As many as 17 supporters of Rita Bahuguna Joshi resigned from the Congress on Tuesday, days after she moved to the Bharatiya Janata Party. Congress state unit secretary Shabnam Pandey, who led the move, said leaders of the Lucknow unit and women's wing were among those who resigned from the party's primary membership in Uttar Pradesh, PTI reported.

The 17 leaders said in a statement that they condemned the derogatory remarks made against Joshi after she joined the BJP on October 20. "We condemn the act of Congress workers insulting Bahuguna [Joshi], who had served the party for 24 years," Pandey said.

Congress' Uttar Pradesh unit chief Raj Babbar had called Joshi a "betrayer" and accused her of pursuing "selfish politics". She had joined the BJP saying she had been unhappy with the Congress and other Opposition parties questioning the veracity of the Indian Army's surgical strikes. Joshi had also criticised Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi for his "khoon ki dalali" remark.

Moreover, the Lucknow Cantonment MLA was reportedly unhappy with the Congress' move to project Sheila Dikshit as the chief ministerial candidate for the poll-bound state. The 67-year-old daughter of former Congress UP chief Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna also reportedly felt abandoned after Babbar was given the position over her.