Chhattisgarh Congress tries to rope in sacked BJP MP

Raipur, Jan 8 (IANS) Congress Thursday tried to rope in Tara Chand Sahu, the sacked Lok Sabha MP of Chhattisgarh's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, according to sources.

The BJP Tuesday expelled Other Backward Class (OBC) leader Sahu, the MP from Durg constituency, and suspended Rajya Sabha member and senior tribal leader Shiv Pratap Singh for their alleged anti-party activities during the state's November assembly polls.

'I have several offers and I am mulling over it and will take a decision after consulting my supporters,' Sahu told reporters Thursday. He refused to divulge the details of who and from which party has proposed to him.

The sources said that Congress leader and former chief minister Ajit Jogi and party treasurer Motilal Vora were in touch with Sahu.

Congress wants to bring Sahu into the party fold, the sources said.

Sahu was accused of raising a local-versus-outsider issue during the polls and campaigning against former assembly speaker Prem Prakash Pandey of the BJP who lost his Bhilai assembly seat.

Sahu hit back at the BJP Wednesday at a press conference saying that BJP leaders had 'lost mental balance' to expel him.