By IANS
Raipur : Shivpratap Singh, a senior tribal leader of Chhattisgarh’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has resigned from the state assembly after being elected to the Rajya Sabha.
Assembly Speaker Premprakash Pandey has accepted his resignation.
Singh, who represented the Surajpur seat in the assembly, was declared elected unopposed to the upper house of parliament March 19 along with opposition Congress candidate Motilal Vora, the former chief minister of undivided Madhya Pradesh.
“Singh has put in his papers as legislator and his resignation has been accepted and notified,” Devendra Verma, secretary in the assembly, told IANS Wednesday.
The BJP’s decision to field Singh as its candidate for the Rajya Sabha came as a surprise as he was a dissident leader in the party camp after he was removed from the post of the state party president about a year ago.
He maintains a good hold in the tribal community, mainly in the state’s vast northern Surguja region.