Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): A Congress candidate from Indore, Akshay Kanti Bam, withdrew his nomination on Monday, giving a major shock to the party right amid polling. Bam reached out to BJP MLA Ramesh Mendola to withdraw his candidature and join the saffron clan.
The action comes amid Lok Sabha elections, when voting in the Indore-Malwa region is only a fortnight away.
BJP senior leader and MLA from Indore, Kailash Vijaywargiya, took to social media to welcome ex-Congress candidate Bam into the BJP.
Posting a picture with Bam, he captioned, "We welcome Shri Akshay Kanti Bam ji, Congress Lok Sabha candidate from Indore in the BJP, under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi, National President JP Nadda, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, and State President VD Sharma."
A re-run of Surat
Notably, April 29 is the last date of withdrawing nominations in Indore-Malwa region, which is due for voting in phase-4 scheduled on May 13.
The Indore incident is quite similar to that of Gujarat's Surat, where BJP candidate Mukesh Dalal, was declared 'elected unopposed' after all other candidates-- including Congress candidate Nilesh Khumbhani, withdrew their names on the last day of withdrawing candidature on April 22.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi slammed the incident, calling it a 'Russian style of democracy.'
