Bhopal, March 21: A key Vyapam scam whistleblower is set to quit his job as a government doctor and launch a political party, saying he is tired of harassment and constant transfers.

Dr Anand Rai told The Telegraph he was confident his proposed Madhya Pradesh Swabhiman Party would emerge as a political force in the 2018 Assembly polls.

"There's a need for a political outfit to dislodge the BJP," the 39-year-old ophthalmologist said, not ruling out an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party and a tacit understanding with the Congress.

A tip-off from Rai to police in July 2013 had helped unearth the scam, which relates to official connivance in cheating during exams conducted by a state board for seats in professional courses and certain government jobs.

Last September, Rai had told the high court he had used a high-tech "Israeli-made watch" to record a conversation during which chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan offered to transfer him and wife Gauri back to Indore if he stopped implicating Chouhan and his family in the scam.

A month earlier, Rai and Gauri, both state government doctors, had publicly said they feared to join their latest posting in Dhar because it was the hometown of a senior BJP leader Rai had complained to the CBI against.

By then, at least 26 Vyapam accused and witnesses had died, many of them under mysterious circumstances. Currently, a high court order has stayed Gauri's transfer out of Indore.

Rai, a former RSS activist, claimed he had gained knowledge of surveillance devices like the Israeli watch while helping the Intelligence Bureau as an informer for a decade.

Today, he said he had already sent his resignation to the health service authorities.

"I was harassed and transferred repeatedly because I had exposed various scams, including unethical drug trials at medical colleges and hospitals in the state in 2010," he said.

"So, I decided to jump into the political ring and start cleansing the system from within."

He said his party would fight for Dalits and farmers. "Many well-meaning, honest people from the various political parties are willing to join me. We have been meeting and a party will soon be launched," he said.

"Many activists, political figures, lawyers and two or three young IAS officers will join my party."

His only worry is money: "Elections require big money. We are against black money and will not accept it from anyone - that's the biggest hurdle."

Rai said he was "saddened" that a key Vyapam accused, former state culture minister Laxmikant Sharma who is out on bail, had met BJP national president Amit Shah yesterday.

"Both of us have an RSS background. If Sharma rejoins the BJP or contests elections again, I will contest against him in the 2018 Assembly elections," Rai said.

Sharma had been removed from the cabinet and expelled from the party after being accused in the scam, which has hung a cloud over several senior officials, politicians and dignitaries.

"I want to see who the RSS supports: me, who fought corruption, or Sharma, who is accused of corruption," Rai said.