Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): BJP's Madhya Pradesh unit on Thursday re-inducted expelled party leader Siddharth Malaiya into party fold in view of the upcoming Assembly polls in the state.
Anticipating "potential rebellion" and to avoid upheavals like in Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka recently, where many party bigwigs switched to other parties, the ruling BJP is leaving no stone unturned to bring back the "rebels" into the party fold.
Siddharth Malaiya, who is the son ex-minister Jayant Malaiya, was expelled from the BJP for his alleged anti-party activities in 2022.
Speculation was rife that Siddharth Malaiya may switch to the Congress to "secure" his political future as at that time, he was openly criticising the state BJP leadership. However, Siddharth Malaiya reached BJP headquarters along with state Home Minister Narottam Mishra and joined the party in the presence of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and state BJP president V. D. Sharma.
It came one month after Preetam Lodhi, who was also expelled for alleged anti-party activities, joined the BJP last month. Gwalior based OBC leader Lodhi is close associate of former Chief Minister Uma Bharti, and she too had expressed her disappointment over Lodhi's expulsion from the party.
"I am happy that the party gave me another chance to work, and for this, I would thank the state BJP leadership," Siddharth Malaiya said while interacting with mediapersons after joining the BJP.
Political experts said the re-induction of Siddharth Malaiya into the party came amid possible "fear" of the "poaching" by the Congress. The BJP got a jolt last month when Yadvendra Singh Yadav, the son of three-time BJP MLA Deshraj Singh Yadav, quit the party and joined the Congress.
In another blow to the saffron party, former Khargone MP Makhan Singh Solanki also joined the Congress, recently.
Recently, a delegation of 14 state and Central BJP leaders was tasked to reach out to every "possible rebel" including party veterans to convince them to remain intact with the BJP. As per the sources, the reports of the delegation wasn't good for the BJP, after which Siddharth Malaiya was re-inducted.
However, there is still a long list of BJP leaders, who have been "sidelined" for the last couple of years and have been puting pressure on the state leadership. And on the other side, there has been a buzz that several BJP rebels are likely to join the Congress.
