The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Operation Lotus is showing no signs of abetting despite its return to power.
After Jyotiraditya Scindia’s crossover to BJP with 22 legislators, two law-makers Pradyumnya Singh Lodhi and Sumitra Devi have left the Congress.
Three more legislators of the party are on BJP’s radar. According to sources in the BJP, one more Congress MLA may take party’s membership this month.
Those legislators are in touch with the BJP leaders. BJP’s state president VD Sharma has also come in contact with them. Cooperatives minister Arvind Bhadoria is playing an important role in the Operation Lotus.
The BJP has been in touch with these legislators for past several months. When the Congress was in power, it tried to keep its legislators together, but they have been disenchanted with the party.
During the Congress rule, those legislators used to pull off benefits but they have been deprived of those profits as the party is out of power.
Therefore, these legislators are contacting the BJP leaders. The ruling party wants to weaken the Congress before the by-elections so that it may form government without hindrance.
Congress’s aggressive campaign
After the loss of power in the state, the Congress has been aggressively campaigning that the party will be back in power and Kamal Nath will be chief minister again after the by-elections. Fearing loss, BJP launched a drive to weaken Congress by wooing its legislators. Between 2013 and 2018, several Congress leaders crossed over to rival camp. But this time, the BJP has launched Operation Lotus in a big way.
