Congress national spokesperson and convenor of the party’s media cell Priyanka Chaturvedi resigned on Thursday night and confirmed on Friday afternoon that she has joined the Shiv Sena. “Congress let me down...I spent good ten years of life in politics, but respect of women remains my top agenda,” she said on Friday.

In her resignation letter addressed to Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Chaturvedi wrote that in the last few weeks, “certain things have convinced me that my services are not valued in the organisation and that I have reached the end of the road”.

“A serious incident and misbehaviour against me by certain party members while I was on official duty for the party has been ignored under the guise of all hands needed for elections,” she wrote in the letter. “This indignity to me has been the final factor to convince me to move on and focus on other things outside INC.”

Chaturvedi said the more time she spends with the party will be at the “cost of her own self-respect and dignity”.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said that Chaturvedi might have been looking for “career progression”, ANI reported. “Every time a party member leaves, it’s a matter of pain for us,” he said at a press conference. “People look for career progression. We wish all of them well, including Priyanka Chaturvedi.” Surjewala said Chaturvedi’s exit is a “reflection on my leadership”.

Her resignation came a day after Chaturvedi publicly criticised the Congress for re-inducting eight leaders who had harassed her in Mathura in Uttar Pradesh a few months ago and allegedly threatened her.

Some local leaders had created a ruckus in Mathura when she was addressing a press conference, and were then suspended after she complained to the party high command on returning to New Delhi. But they were reinstated on April 15, reportedly on the recommendation of the Congress-in-charge of western Uttar Pradesh, Jyotiraditya Scindia, the Hindustan Times reported.

Chaturvedi had retweeted a letter of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee suspending action against the accused. In the letter, the party mentioned Chaturvedi’s complaint about “undignified behaviour” by the eight leaders during a recent press conference on the Rafale deal. The eight leaders were told not to do anything in the near future that will tarnish the party’s image.

“Deeply saddened that lumpen goons get prefence [preference] in @incindia over those who have given their sweat & blood,” she wrote on Twitter on Wednesday night. “Having faced brickbats & abuse across board for the party but yet those who threatened me within the party getting away with not even a rap on their knuckles is unfortunate.”