Former MP and BJP leader joins Congress ahead of crucial bypolls in Madhya Pradesh

As the crucial bypolls in 24 seats draw nearer, both the Congress and the BJP have started preparing for the race.

In a significant development in this regard, former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and ex-member of parliament from Ujjain parliamentary constituency Premchand Guddu rejoined Congress on Sunday in Bhopal.

Guddu, two times MLA (1998-2008) and MP (2009) met with the State Congress president Kamal Nath with his son Ajit Bourasi before rejoining the grand old party. The former MP had left Congress ahead of 2018 assembly elections and joined the BJP with his son. The BJP had fielded Ajit from Ghatia constituency in Ujjain district but, he lost by a margin of 4628 votes.

Congress is likely to pit Guudu from Sanver assembly seat against BJP Minister Tulsi Silawat, who had crossed over to the BJP in March.

The BJP recently expelled Guddu and his son from party’s membership after bothe the father and the son went against the party line. While his son criticised the new Citizenship law, the father recently slammed Scindia whose rebellion brought down the Congress Government in the State.

Soon after, the BJP served a show cause notice on Guddu. In response to the notise, he claimed, he had resigned in February itself. Claiming that the party did not receive the resignation letter, the BJP expelled Guddu last week.

While joining the Congress, he targeted BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia and alleged, “Scindia has a feudal mindset and it was because of him that he had left Congress party. He never let me continue the development work in my constituency.”

Hitting back at Guddu, BJP leader and former leader of opposition, Gopal Bhargava said, “Guddu is making false allegations against the BJP and it has no base. When he left Congress to join the BJP, he had said that he felt suffocated in Congress. When he did not succeed in polls, he decided to join Congress again.”

Alleging that “For some politicians, changing party is like changing clothes,” Bhargava said, “Forty years back, when we joined the BJP, there were only two MPs from the party. We continued our struggle in the opposition and never thought about changing loyalty. Such people are making politics dirty. Victory and defeat are not constant but leaders should follow one ideology,” he said.

A week ago, several Congressmen from Indore and Raisen districts joined the BJP.  By polls on 24 seats is due by September.