Blow to Congress in MP as senior leader Pachouri joins BJP with several others

Bhopal, Mar 9 (PTI) In a jolt to the Congress in Madhya Pradesh ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, senior leader and former Union minister Suresh Pachouri, ex-MP Gajendra Singh Rajukhedi and several others, including former party MLAs, joined the BJP in Bhopal on Saturday.

These leaders joined the BJP in the presence of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, state BJP president V D Sharma and former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan at the party's state headquarters in the morning.

Former MLAs Sanjay Shukla (Indore-1), Arjun Paliya (Pipariya), Vishal Patel (Depalpur) were among the leaders of the grand old party who also joined the ruling outfit.

Pachouri, 71, who was close to the Gandhi family, was Union minister of state for defence (defence production and supplies), and also served as a four-time Rajya Sabha member of the Congress.

He had earlier held several key positions in the Congress, including the post of the party's Madhya Pradesh unit president. He was also the state unit president of the Youth Congress.

After joining the BJP, Pachouri slammed the Congress, saying it used to talk about a casteless and classless society earlier, but was dividing the country on the caste lines now.

Welcoming Pachouri into party fold, former CM Chouhan said that the veteran leader did not put forth any conditions before joining the party.

Rajukhedi, a prominent tribal leader, was elected as an MP from Dhar (ST) Lok Sabha seat on the Congress ticket thrice - in 1998, 1999 and 2009. Before joining the Congress, he was elected as a BJP MLA in 1990.

Several other leaders, including former district Congress president of Bhopal, Kailash Mishra, former state unit chief of the National Students' Union of India (NSUI), the students' wing of the party, Atul Sharma, senior Congress leader Alok Chansoriya also joined along with Pachouri.

Meanwhile, a letter dated March 7 addressed to Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge by Pachouri also surfaced on social media in which the latter said he was resigning from the party. In the letter, Pachouri said he served the Congress for 50 years, but the party has now deviated from the principles that it once stood for. PTI

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