Another Congress MLA jumped ship to the BJP in Madhya Pradesh on Sunday, just six days ahead of the bypolls to Khandwa Lok Sabha seat and three Assembly constituencies scheduled for October 30.
Sachin Birla, MLA from Barwaha in Khargone district, joined the BJP during a poll campaign meeting of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan at Bedia village. Bedia falls in Barwaha constituency which is a part of the Khandwa Lok Sabha seat.
Birla is the 27th Congress MLA to switch side to the BJP after the 2018 Assembly elections. In all, 26 MLAs had switched over to the BJP in 2020, facilitating the formation of a BJP government in the state. Later, in the bypolls to 28 seats, BJP won 19, giving it a total majority in the house.
Birla (40), a first-time MLA, is considered close to ex-Union minister and ex-chief of MP Congress Arun Yadav who retracted his name from the list of probable Congress candidates for the Khandwa LS bypolls earlier this month.
The resignation of Birla from the MLA post, which was imperative after his switch over, will reduce the Congress’s strength in the 230 Assembly to 94, while three seats are up for bypolls now. Birla’s exit, while not making any difference to the government in the state, puts the Congress in a spot ahead of the bypolls, which both the parties are fighting with utmost seriousness.
Though Birla had turned somewhat cool towards the Congress bypolls campaign, he participated in the campaign meetings for Congress Khandwa candidate Rajnarayan Singh Purni till Saturday and also shared the details on social media. However, he was said to be in touch with Agriculture Minister Kamal Patel and Mandhata MLA Narayan Patel (who had switched over to the BJP last year). The MLA appeared on the campaign dais with CM Chouhan on Sunday in Bedia and was accorded welcome.
The BJP maintained that the leaders including those of the Congress were joining it as they were impressed by the party ideology and the work done from national to state level. The Congress, however, alleged that the move was part of the ongoing “politics of trading” by the BJP.
Ex-chief minister and MP Congress chief Kamal Nath tweeted to say that the BJP is again resorting to the politics of trading to save its government and the lost mass base. “BJP made its government in the state through trading because the people had rejected them (in the 2018 Assembly polls). Now BJP has seen the mood of the people for the four bypolls. The party is aware of the probable results. BJP’s mass base is lost and people do not want to see them in power even for a moment. So, BJP is again resorting to putting a blemish on politics and to insult people’s right to vote.”
He further said, “Shivraj ji you may do as much of the politics of trading as you can to save your chair, but you will not be able to save your chair because people have rejected you and they will give a befitting reply to the politics of trading in the upcoming bypolls.”
