The return of Baijnath Singh Yadav to the Madhya Pradesh Congress from the BJP on June 14 will not be the only return that the Congress is anticipating, but those seeking to return will have to pass the test of acceptability of the district unit of the Congress to which they used to belong.
Mr. Yadav, considered close to Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and having a stronghold in Shivpuri, had switched to the BJP in 2020 when several MLAs of the Congress had changed sides and brought down the Kamal Nath-led Congress government in Madhya Pradesh. Cue to yet another Assembly poll cycle and the fact that the Congress managed to get its own mayor elected to Gwalior and Jabalpur in last year’s local body election, a feat accomplished after 57 years and 23 years respectively, has many Congress leaders from the region who had switched to the BJP seeking to return.
“There have been overtures but the Congress leadership in the State is clear, this is not going to be an indiscriminately applied amnesty. These leaders, many of whom were instrumental in stealing the mandate of the Congress in Madhya Pradesh, have been told quite clearly that only if the local unit of the Congress in their district gives a report that the return of these leaders is essential for winning in their area, then will it be entertained,” said a senior leader in Madhya Pradesh Congress involved in the matter.
