In a significant setback for the Congress in Madhya Pradesh prior to the Lok Sabha elections, senior leader and former Union minister Suresh Pachouri, ex-MP Gajendra Singh Rajukhedi, along with several former MLAs from the party, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday.
Pachouri, Rajukhedi, and several other leaders formally joined the BJP in a ceremony held at the party's state headquarters on Saturday morning. The event was attended by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, state BJP president V D Sharma, and former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Notable former MLAs such as Sanjay Shukla, Arjun Paliya, and Vishal Patel also made the transition from the grand old party to the ruling outfit.
Pachouri, who was close to the Gandhi family, was Union minister of state for defence (defence production and supplies), and also served as a four-time Rajya Sabha member of the grand old party. Pachouri had earlier held several key positions in the Congress, including the post of the party's Madhya Pradesh unit president. He was also the state unit president of the Youth Congress.
Rajukhedi, a well-known tribal leader, served as a Member of Parliament from the Dhar (Scheduled Tribes) Lok Sabha seat for three consecutive terms under the Congress banner in 1998, 1999, and 2009. Prior to his tenure with the Congress, he held the position of a BJP MLA in 1990.