MP: Nearly 50 BJP leaders, sitting MLA, ex-MLA, join hands with Kamal Nath

50 BJP leaders, including sitting MLA Virendra Raghuvanshi, two-time former MLA Bhanwar Singh Shekhawat seven district-level leaders, have joined the Congress

Bhopal: Disappointed with functioning of the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh and getting sidelined, nearly 50 BJP leaders, including sitting MLA Virendra Raghuvanshi, two-time former MLA Bhanwar Singh Shekhawat seven district-level leaders, have joined the Congress .

Raghuvanshi is the first sitting BJP legislator to leave the party since 2018 and join the Congress just two months before the assembly election. The move by the leaders, including half-a-dozen from Gwalior-Chambal region and the loyalists of Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, in the past few weeks is to “secure their political future”.

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It has happened despite both the State and Central leadership of the BJP carrying out multiple rounds of exercise to bring down the internal differences among the party cadres.

As the state leadership failed to keep the party cadre intact, the BJP has deployed its central team, more importantly the senior-most party leader in Madhya Pradesh and Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar. Tomar, who is said to have won the trust of both “big bosses” – Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, has been appointed as convener of the election management committee. Earlier, Union Ministers Bhupendra Singh Yadav and Ashwini Vaishnaw were appointed state’s election in-charge and co-incharge, respectively.

Observing the growing resentment among the BJP leaders against the state leadership, especially Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and MP unit head V. D. Sharma, Tomar had said, “It’s a war, all BJP soldiers will fight with full strength to defeat the political enemy – Congress in Madhya Pradesh.” Kamal Nath has repeatedly mentioned that “there is a long list of BJP leaders willing to join the Congress, but it will happen only with consent of district party workers.”

Most of the turncoats have blamed three BJP leaders — Chief Minister Chouhan, MP BJP president Sharma and Scindia — for switching to the Congress. For instance, Raghuwanshi (Kolaras MLA in Shivpuri district) has directly attacked Scindia in his resignation letter, accusing him of “paying lip-service” on the issue of farmer loan waivers and also levelled allegations of corruption against the BJP government.

More importantly, at least four senior leaders whose families have been associated with the BJP for decades have quit the party and joined the Congress. The list includes – two-time former MLA Girija Shankar Sharma, whose family has won the Hoshangabad Assembly seat seven straight times since 1990. “I don’t know why I’m being harassed and tortured within the BJP since Scindia arrived with his loyalists three-and-a-half years ago. It is possibly happening because I worked for Jaibhan Singh Pawaiya and KP Yadav (both known to be part of the anti-Scindia camp in BJP) in the previous elections,” he added.

Responded to the resignations, Scindia, who had joined the BJP with 22 MLAs in 2020, leading to the toppling of the Kamal Nath-led Congress government, said people come and go during elections. “In a democracy, everyone has the right to make their own decision. In 2020, the Congress government had made a promise against the farmers and young women. There was corruption in the 15-month government and six cabinet ministers resigned from the government at the same time. But, today, we are seeing that resignations are tendered two to four months before the elections,” Scindia said