In a significant blow to the Congress party before the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Suresh Pachouri, a senior Congress leader and former Union Minister, switched sides and joined the BJP in Bhopal on Saturday.
Significantly, the blow to the long-standing political party occurred only a day after Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra entered Gujarat following a short stay in Madhya Pradesh.
In response to the recent departure of a prominent member from the Congress party prior to the upcoming general elections, expected to take place in April or May, former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, attributed it to the party's absence of effective leadership.
Chouhan, who is running for Lok Sabha from Vidisha, spoke to journalists on Saturday saying, "It seems Rahul Gandhi will breathe easy only after finishing off the Congress. It will be in line with what Mahatma Gandhi suggested the Congress should do. All good leaders in the Congress are fed up with the party's rudderless and directionless state. The Congress appears to be on the verge of extinction."
Also, while speaking to members of the media after the BJP successfully prized away another Congress member, VD Sharma, the state president of the party, expressed his views stating, "Former Union Minister and Congress leader Suresh Pachouri is a tall leader in Madhya Pradesh Congress. Since there is no place for leaders of his stature in the Congress anymore, he has joined the BJP and will work under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi."
In response to the situation, Kailash Vijayvargiya, a prominent member of the BJP, also said, "All tall leaders are deserting the Congress even as Rahul Gandhi is busy with his Nyay Yatra. All leaders and workers in the Congress have come to this realisation that if anyone can do justice to people across the country, it is PM Modi. So, many are switching sides and joining the BJP."
Earlier in February, there were rumors circulating about Kamal Nath, the former Union Minister and state chief of the Congress party, potentially joining the BJP.
Nevertheless, despite speculation of a change in allegiance, the long-standing member of the Congress party chose to remain loyal to the historic organization.
