Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Three legislators of the Congress have so far switched over to the BJP during the ongoing parliamentary election.
They may contest assembly by-elections on the BJP ticket. After Kamlesh Shah, Ramniwas Rawat, Nirmala Sapre has also defected to the BJP.
The Congress legislators’ switchover to the BJP has begun since 2013. The then deputy leader of the opposition Choudhary Rakesh Singh joined the BJP when the Congress brought no-confidence motion against the government in the House.
Before the 2014 Lok Sabha election Congress legislators Sanjay Pathak, Narayan Tripathi and Dinesh Ahirwar joined the BJP.
In 2021, when by-election was being held in Khandwa, Sachin Birla defected to the ruling party.
After Jyotiraditya Scindia left the Congress, a large number of opposition members switched over to the ruling party. At that time, 26 legislators, including Scindia loyalists, joined the BJP.
Apart from the Congress, the Independent legislators and those belonging to the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party defected to the BJP.
The figures of the past few years show that 35 sitting legislators took the BJP membership.
Most of them fought by-elections on the BJP ticket after quitting their political outfits.
At present, out of 35 defectors, the political career of 22 has faded into oblivion.
These leaders have either lost the assembly election or have not got tickets from the BJP, so they are waiting for better days.
Nine of the legislators, who defected to the BJP from other parties, are now MLAs, and three are enjoying ministerial berths.
Rahul Lodhi has been given a ticket from the Damoh Lok Sabha constituency. The ruling party did not give tickets to ten former legislators. And a few of them have been sidelined.
Sitting legislators joining BJP cooling their heels
The legislators are: Choudhary Rakesh Singh, Narayan Tripathi, Pradeep Jaiswal, Imarti Devi, Mahendra Sisodia, OPS Bhadoria, Raghuraj Kansana, Kamlesh Jatav, Raksha Sironia, Jajpal Singh Jajji, Suresh Dhakad, Girraj Dandotia, Ranveer Jatav, Munnalal Goyal, Rajyawardhan Singh Dattigaon, Sumitra Kasdekar, Dinesh Ahirwar, Sanjeev Kushwana, Vikram Singh Rana and Pradyuman Singh Lodhi
Ministers and legislators
Tulsi Silawat, Pradhuman Singh Tomar, Govind Singh Rajput, Aindal Singh Kansana, Prabhuram Choudhary, Hardeep Singh Dang, Brajendra Yadav, Bisahulal Singh, Sanjay Pathak, Narayan Patel, Sachin Birla and Rajesh Shukla.
