MP Congress Faces Setback as MLA Rawat Switches to BJP Amid Rahul Gandhi's Visit

Congress MLA Ramniwas Rawat and Morena Mayor Sharda Solanki joined the BJP, a setback for the Congress. Rawat, a close associate of Digvijaya Singh, resigned as MP Congress vice-president after Jitu Patwari's appointment as state chief. This follows the withdrawal of the Congress's Indore Lok Sabha candidate and several defections in Madhya Pradesh.

Senior Congress leader and sitting Madhya Pradesh MLA Ramniwas Rawat on Tuesday joined the BJP, in a fresh blow to the opposition party a day after its Indore Lok Sabha seat candidate withdrew his nomination.

Rawat (64) joined the saffron outfit in the presence of Chief Minister Mohan Yadav at a rally in Sheopur district, the day when Congress MP Rahul Gandhi was in neighbouring Bhind to address an election gathering.

Besides Rawat, Morena mayor Sharda Solanki also joined the BJP. Sheopur is part of the Morena Lok Sabha seat where polling will be held in the third-phase on May 7.

The CM, state BJP president Vishnu Dutt Sharma and former minister Narottam Mishra welcomed Rawat and other leaders into the BJP fold by offering them saffron 'angvastra' (scarf).

Rawat, the sitting MLA from Vijaypur in Sheopur district, was considered close to Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh and served in the latter's cabinet when he was the Madhya Pradesh chief minister (1993 to 2003).

He resigned from the post of Madhya Pradesh Congress vice-president soon after the appointment of former minister Jitu Patwari as the party's state unit chief in December last year, a Congress leader said.

The veteran politician had been elected MLA from Vijaypur six times since 1990 except in 1998 and 2018.

The Congress, which won just one seat in the 2019 polls, suffered a major blow on Monday when the party's nominee from Indore Lok Sabha constituency Akshay Kanti Bam withdrew his nomination and joined the BJP.

The opposition party saw large-scale desertions from its ranks in Madhya Pradesh in run-up to the Lok Sabha polls.

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