Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Ahead of the by-elections on three state assembly constituencies and one Lok Sabha seat in Madhya Pradesh, another Congress MLA joined the BJP in Khargone on Sunday.
He is the 27th Congress legislator who has left the party after March 2020 when the BJP ousted the Kamal Nath-led government by engineering defection in the then ruling party.
The Congress MLA Sachin Birla from Barwah assembly constituency was was reportedly angry over Congress leadership. Sources said several senior Congress leaders were deputed to convince Birla, but he refused to talk to the Congress leaders.
He joined BJP in presence of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and cabinet minister Kamal Patel in a public meeting held at Bediya in Khargone district on Sunday.
Sources said that Kamal Patel played an important role to convince Birla to join BJP.
In March, 2020, 22 Congress MLAs including six cabinet ministers of Jyotiraditya Scindia's fraction resigned from the party and joined BJP. Later, four more Congress MLAs had joined BJP.
