Former Union Minister Suresh Pachouri, along with other Congress leaders in Madhya Pradesh, switched loyalties to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday, dealing the Congress a major blow ahead of the Lok Sabha election.
Thise who quit the Congress and joined the BJP include: Gajendra Singh Rajukhedi, the former Lok Sabha MP from Dhar; former MLAs Sanjay Shukla of Indore-1; Vishal Patel of Indore’s Depalpur; and Arjun Paliya of Narmadapuram’s Pipariya constituency.
The development comes at a time when the Congress is deliberating on its candidate selection for the Lok Sabha election. The BJP has already announced names for 24 out of 29 seats in the State. Notably, Dhar and Indore are among the five remaining constituencies where the BJP is yet to name its candidates.