Rustam Singh has been a cabinet minister twice in the BJP government in the state (File)
Former minister and senior BJP leader Rustam Singh has resigned from all the responsibilities of the party after his son got a ticket from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) to contest elections in the forthcoming assembly polls.
The BSP has fielded the former minister's son Rakesh Singh from the Morena assembly constituency. He will be contesting against BJP's candidate Raghuraj Kansana and the Congress's candidate Dinesh Gurjar.
Rustam Singh is a retired IPS (Indian Police Service) officer and has been a cabinet minister twice in the BJP government in the state. He was a strong contender for a ticket from the Morena assembly seat from the BJP but the party did not entrust him this time. Now, he will campaign for his son in the upcoming assembly poll.
Mr Singh wrote his resignation letter to state party chief VD Sharma on Sunday (October 22) which read, "I resign from the primary membership of Bharatiya Janata Party. I also resign from all responsibilities of the party."
Meanwhile, Mr Singh told news agency ANI, "I left the job of Inspector General of Police (IG) with respect and the Bharatiya Janata Party brought me with respect. I worked, did development work and tried to make Morena better. This time also the people of Morena in the survey wanted me to again serve the public but they (BJP) ignored it. I want to say that respect is the most important thing. People wanted us to do something for them, so there should be some place to do it and therefore my son joined the BSP."
The former minister further said that he wanted to say that they came to serve the public and would do the same. The work was left in the district and they would try to provide every facility without any discrimination to the people of Morena.
Madhya Pradesh will undergo assembly polls on November 17. Through the polls, the state will elect legislators from 230 Assembly constituencies. The election would be conducted in only one phase in the state and the counting would be done on December 3.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)