BJP warns Jyotiraditya Scindia by poaching another Congress MLA

One more Congress MLA on Sunday joined BJP, presumably after an assurance of being made a minister like 11 other defectors who had quit the Congress with Jyotiradtya Scindia in March, causing fall of the Kamal Nath government.

MLA from Bada Malehara constituency in Chhatarpur, Pradumn Singh Lodhi was welcomed in the BJP by chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and state president VD Sharma at the party headquarters in Bhopal. Before that, Lodhi went to the state assembly to tender his resignation from member ship of the house which was immediately accepted by pro-tem speaker Rameshwar Sharma.

Former chief minister Uma Bharti was instrumental in engineering Lodhi’s defection. The Sadhvi, a prominent Lodhi leader, has reportedly lured the Congress MLA with promise to get him a berth in the Shivraj Singh cabinet. Significantly, Uma Bharti had expressed displeasure that no member from the powerful Lodhi community was inducted in the Shivraj Singh cabinet which was expanded on July 2.

She had won from the Bada Malehara seat in 2003 from where the new entrant in the BJP won assembly election in 2018 on Congress ticket. Pradumn Singh Lodhi sought blessings of Uma Bharti at her bungalow before going to the assembly for tendering his resignation.

BJP sources said by roping-in Pradumn Singh in the party, the chief minister has killed two birds with one stone. While he has placated Uma Bharti, he has also given a message to Jyotiraditya Scindia that his arm-twisting tactics might compel the BJP to poach more Congress MLAs to ensure the government’s survival. Scindia has played hardball in dealing with the chief minister, whether it was cabinet expansion or allocation of departments. The turncoat politician has extracted huge price for helping the BJP to topple the Kamal Nath government by getting 11 out of 22 of his loyalists made ministers. This has caused huge resentment in the BJP.

Party sources say more Congress MLAs could be lured in future to reduce dependence on Scindia supporters.

With Lodhi’s resignation, number of vacant seats in the state has gone up to 25. The BJP has 107 MLAs white Congress‘s strength has further reduced to 91. The 230-strng state assembly has two BSP one Samajwadi Party and four independent MLAs.