Adding to the woes of the ruling BJP in Madhya Pradesh, around 10 saffron party leaders, including four senior and strong leaders, today joined the opposition Congress party.
The BJP leaders who joined the Congress included MLA Virendra Raghuvanshi of Kolaras in Shivpuri district, former MLA Bhanwar Singh Shekhawat of Dhar, Chandrabhushan Singh Bundela alias Guddu Raja who is the son of two-time Member of Parliament Sujan Singh Bundela, and BJP leader from Bhopal Ashish Agrawal alias Golu, who is the nephew of former BJP Home Minister Umashankar Gupta.
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Besides, BJP leaders Chedilal Pandey and Shivam Pandey of Katni, Arvind Dhakad of Shivpuri, Anshu Raghuvanshi from Guna, Keshav Yadav from Bhind and Mahendra Pratap Singh from Narmadapuram (Hoshangabad) also took membership of the Congress today.
MP Congress Chief Kamal Nath welcomed all the BJP leaders into the Congress fold and gave them the membership of the party at Bhopal. Along with the BJP leaders, thousands of their supporters also left the ruling saffron party and joined the opposition.
On 1 September, veteran BJP leader and two-time former MLA Girija Shankar Sharma also quit the saffron party.
Sharma belongs to a family dedicated to the BJP for decades. Girija Shankar Sharma and his younger brother Sitasaran Sharma have won the Hoshangabad assembly seat (formerly Itarsi seat) seven times in a row for the BJP since 1990 to 2018.
Girija Shankar Sharma had won the seat in 2003 and 2008.
Sitasaran Sharma has won the seat the remaining five times. Sitasaran Sharma was also the speaker of the MP State Assembly during the past BJP government.
Assembly polls in MP are due in November this year.