Bhopal: In another setback to the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Amarwara MLA Kamlesh Pratap Shah on Friday resigned from the party and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), people aware of the matter said.
Shah, a three-time MLA from Amarwada assembly seat of Chhindwara district, reached Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav’s residence on Friday and took the membership of the ruling party, said people.
“Today, the entire state turned into the colour of Modi (Prime Minister Narendra Modi). A leader of the Gondwana community, Kamlesh Shah, has taken membership in the BJP because of Kamal Nath’s poor behaviour. There is a problem in Chhindwara, and examples of it are coming to the fore,” CM Yadav said as he welcomed Shah to the BJP.
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All the seven MLAs in the Chhindwara Lok Sabha constituency are of the Congress party, and Shah is the only sitting MLA who joined the BJP from the district.
Earlier on March 13, former party MLA Choudhary Gambhir Singh and several other local leaders from the Congress leader Kamal Nath’s home turf joined the ruling BJP.
“Kamlesh ji is from a very prestigious family. He is a third-time MLA. Impressed by the working system of the Prime Minister, he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is heartily welcomed. I congratulate him,” Panchayat minister Prahlad Patel said.
Chhindwara, a bastion of former chief minister Nath, is a high-profile seat in Madhya Pradesh. In the past 70 years, the BJP has only won once in a Lok Sabha election from here.
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The BJP had set a target of winning all 29 Lok Sabha seats from MP.
The party has set up committees in every district in the state to woo leaders from other political parties, especially the Congress. BJP state-level convenor of the committee, Narottam Mishra, earlier claimed that over 10,000 Congress leaders and workers have joined the BJP in the past one month.
Congress spokesperson KK Mishra said, “The filtration of Congress is going on. The selfish and opportunistic leaders are leaving the party.”
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