BJP legislator Ashish Deshmukh has quit the party and his post. The son of a former state Congress president, he had switched over to the BJP ahead of the 2014 elections. This is the second resignation by a BJP representative in eastern Vidarbha.

Earlier, Nana Patole had quit the party and parliamentary seat of Bhandara-Gondia, following which the BJP lost the seat to the NCP-Congress alliance in a bypoll. Deshmukh said he quit the BJP because the party had been ignoring the common people and their issues. "I have been raising issues, but the BJP hasn't given any justice," he said.