Mumbai, Feb 18 (IANS): Amid the exodus of party leaders from the Congress, leaders of one of the allies in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), have suggested to the Congress leaders that if they are unhappy with the central leadership and are leaving the party, they should refrain from joining the Bharatiya Janata Party.

NCP leader Majeed Memon in a tweet said, "Those senior Congress leaders who are unhappy with the party's high command and decide to quit the party, need not compromise on their own ideology and join the BJP. There are other options open to continue to work to defeat the BJP."

The reaction comes after Ashwani Kumar, a former Union Minister, quit the Congress. However, he has not joined any party.

Congress leaders who have quit the party and joined the BJP include Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jitin Prasada, R.P.N. Singh, Bhubaneswar Kalita. Many Congress leaders from Maharashtra, including Kripa Shankar Singh, Radha Krishna Vikhe Patil and Narayan Rane, have joined the BJP.

A few Congress leaders like former Goa Chief Minister Luizinho Falerio and Sushmita Dev, the former head of the Congress' women's wing, too quit the party and joined the Trinamool Congress.

The Congress leaders are unhappy with the party's leadership as stated by Ashwani Kumar when he sent his resignation letter to former party President Sonia Gandhi on Monday.

"Having given my thoughtful consideration to the matter, I have concluded that in the present circumstances and consistent with my dignity, I can best serve larger national cause outside the party fold," Kumar said.

"I am accordingly quitting the party after a long association of 46 years and hope to proactively pursue public cause inspired by the idea of transformative leadership, based on the dignitarian promise of a liberal democracy envisioned by our freedom fighters," he added.