Kamal Nath Aide And Ex-Congress Minister Joins BJP Ahead Of Polls

Former Madhya Pradesh minister and four-time Congress MLA from Chhindwara Dipak Saxena and his supporters joined the BJP on Friday night.

MP Chief Minister Mohan Yadav welcomed Mr Saxena, a close aide of senior Congress leader Kamal Nath, into the ruling party.

आज @BJP4MP के प्रदेश कार्यालय में कांग्रेस पार्टी के वरिष्ठ नेता श्री दीपक सक्सेना जी का समर्थकों के साथ भाजपा परिवार में स्वागत किया।

इस अवसर पर मध्यप्रदेश लोकसभा चुनाव प्रभारी @bjpdrmahendra जी, विधायक श्री @BDSabnani जी एवं प्रदेश कार्यालय मंत्री @DrRaghvendrashr जी उपस्थित… pic.twitter.com/0lPyx4SWVq — Dr Mohan Yadav (Modi Ka Parivar) (@DrMohanYadav51) April 5, 2024

Mr Saxena, who quit the Congress on March 22, said he was joining the BJP as he was influenced by the works of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, CM Yadav and state BJP chief VD Sharma. Earlier, his son Ajay Saxena had joined the BJP.

"The Congress has become aimless under Kamal Nath's son Nakul Nath, sitting MP from Chhindwara. My father was being marginalized and the workers too were being ignored in Chhindwara for the last six years. That is why my father took the decision to part ways with the Congress," Ajay Saxena said.

Dipak Saxena had quit his Assembly seat when Kamal Nath became CM in 2018 so that latter could become an MLA.

On March 29, Kamal Nath loyalist and Amarwara MLA Kamlesh Pratap Shah crossed over to the BJP. Mr Shah has won the Amarwara seat thrice in a row.

In the November 2023 MP assembly polls, the Congress had won all the seven assembly seats of Chhindwara district. The BJP is making all efforts to ensure it wrests Chhindwara, the only seat the Congress had won in MP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Nakul Nath, who has renominated by the Congress, will take on BJP's Vivek Sahu. Polls are scheduled on April 19.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)