BJP has representative in every MP district to poach Cong leaders: Sajjan Verma

A former minister from Madhya Pradesh has alleged that the state's ruling BJP has instructed its leaders in every district of the state to poach Congress members, a charge that the ruling party has attributed to “sheer frustration”.

Senior Congress leader and former Dewas MP Sajjan Singh Verma made the claim while addressing a party meeting in Ratlam on Friday, 23 February. In a viral video of the address that has surfaced on social media, Varma can be heard telling party workers, “The BJP has deployed one representative in every district (to ensure defection by Congress leaders). Be it sarpanch, panch or any other leader of the Congress (make them defect).”

Varma is considered a staunch supporter of former MP chief minister Kamal Nath, about whom there has been recent speculation that he would be crossing over to the BJP. At the same time, senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya had asserted that his party’s doors were closed for Nath.

Mentioning Vijayvargiya's statement, Verma can be heard saying in the video, “Your doors are infested with termites and it will be evident in the coming elections. The BJP members should understand that the loyalty of my grassroots Congress workers runs deeper.”

Asked about Verma’s statements, state BJP spokesman Pankaj Chaturvedi said they were born out of “sheer frustration”, adding, "such statements by Sajjan Singh Verma are natural, given the plight of the Congress now. We can understand their state of mind. Crores of BJP workers are serving the people across the country".

On 19 February, speaking to media outside Kamal Nath's residence in Delhi, Verma had dismissed reports of the veteran Congress leader contemplating a switch to the BJP, saying the question of the former chief minister leaving the party with which he has spent more than 40 years, did not arise.

Neither Kamal Nath nor his son Nakul Nath were crossing over to the BJP, Verma said, and repeated that the latter would contest the Lok Sabha polls, likely to be held in April-May, from Chhindwara as the Congress candidate.

"He (Nath) told me that 'I will call all the in-charges of the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee and discuss the preparations for the Lok Sabha polls. I asked about the media speculation about him, to which he said why should 'I answer an imaginary question'," Verma had said.