Madhya Pradesh Social Welfare Board chief Padma Shukla quit the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday, and joined the Congress in the presence of senior leader Kamal Nath. Her position is equivalent to that of a state Cabinet minister, The Indian Express reported.

As many as 150 BJP workers also joined the Congress with her, PTI reported.

Shukla claimed that a state minister was humiliating party workers, ANI reported. “Whatever I have done to date is for the workers,” she told the news agency. “Sanjay Pathak, who is a state minister, creates problem for the workers. I could not do anything to save them. I tried my best to have a positive relationship with them, but it did not work.”

She has been a primary member of the party since 1980. “I have discharged my duties accordingly,” Shukla told Madhya Pradesh BJP chief Rakesh Singh in her resignation letter. “I am upset because of the negligence and exploitation of the party workers in Vijayraghavgarh constituency post 2014 bye-polls. Thus, I am resigning from the primary membership of the party.”

The former BJP leader said she was open to contesting on the Congress’s ticket from Vijayraghavgarh in the upcoming Assembly elections. Madhya Pradesh goes to the polls later this year.