Lok Sabha Polls: Setback For Congress As Senior MP Leaders Join BJP

Bhopal: In a major jolt to the Congress and INDIA bloc, five senior Congress leaders – including former Union minister Suresh Pachouri – quit the grand old party and joined the BJP on Saturday.

The others who deserted Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha polls are ex-MP Gajendra Singh Rajukhedi, and former MLAs Sanjay Shukla, Arjun Paliya and Vishal Patel.

The five leaders formally switched allegiance in the presence of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, state BJP president V D Sharma and former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan at the party’s state headquarters here.

Pachouri, who was once close to the Gandhi family, said the Congress has alienated itself from its principles and policies.

“Congress has alienated itself from the public and is unable to establish a relationship,” Pachouri told mediapersons.

Pachouri served as a four-time Rajya Sabha member of Congress besides holding several key positions like the party’s Madhya Pradesh unit president and state unit president of the Youth Congress.