MP: In setback to Congress ahead of LS polls, party MLA, in-charge join BJP
Bhopal: In a setback to Congress ahead of the April-May Lok Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh, party MLA from Amarwada under Chhindwara district, Kamalesh Pratap Shah on Friday joined BJP. The in-charge of Congress in Chhindwara LS seat Babulal Yadav also joined BJP.
Mr Shah, known to be a close aide of Congress veteran Kamal Nath, resigned from the state Assembly before joining BJP.
He sent his resignation to Assembly speaker Narendra Singh Tomar who accepted it, the Assembly secretariat here has confirmed.
He is the first sitting MLA to resign from the house in the current tenure of the Assembly.
Mr Shah along with his wife Madhvi, former chairperson of Harai municipality in the district, and sister, Kesar Netam, a member of the local zilla panchayat, joined BJP in the presence of chief minister Mohan Yadav and state BJP president Vishnu Dutt Sharma.
Mr Shah has been winning the polls from the seat consecutively for the last three Assembly elections.
The development comes close on the heels of no less than a dozen Congress leaders of Chhindwara, considered close aides of Mr Nath, jumping ship to BJP in recent times.
In the latest incident, former minister Deepak Saxena, known to be long-time loyalist of Mr Nath, quit Congress, four days ago.
He met chief minister Mr Yadav a couple of days ago triggering speculations that he may join BJP very soon.
With BJP setting eyes on the Chhindwara Lok Sabha seat as part of its ‘Mission 29’ in the upcoming polls, the party has been able to bring into its fold around 4000 Congress cadres of Chhindwara in recent times.
BJP had won 28 out of 29 LS seats in the last polls, leaving the lone seat of Chhindwara for Congress to bag.
The Chhindwara LS seat has been held by Mr Nath’s family for the last 44 years.
Mr Nath had won the seat nine times earlier before vacating it for his son Nakul in 2019 LS polls.
Nakul is seeking re-election from the constituency in the upcoming LS polls as a Congress candidate.
Around two dozen Congress leaders from other areas in the state also joined BJP on Friday.
