Former BJP minister Deepak Joshi joins Congress ahead of Madhya Pradesh polls
bhopal: In a setback to the ruling BJP ahead of the Assembly polls, ex-minister Deepak Joshi — the son of former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh late Kailash Joshi quit the saffron party and joined Congress in the presence of Kamal Nath on Saturday in Bhopal.
Another ex-MLA Radhey Lal Baghel, who has been a cabinet minister in the BJP’s Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led previous government, also joined hands with the Congress. Both the leaders took membership in the Congress at the party’s state headquarters in the state capital. On this occasion several senior leaders and office bearers were present.
The late Kailash Joshi had been the CM of the state of Bhartiya Jan Sangh, later morphed into BJP, from 1977-78. He had been the founder member of the BJP and was also a member of the Parliament twice on BJP tickets.
Deepak, the three-time MLA, contested the first election from the Bagli Assembly constituency of Dewas district in 2003 and won the election. Later, he was elected consecutively twice from the Hatpipliya seat of the same district in 2008 and 2013. In his last tenure as a legislator, he has been a minister in the Shivraj Singh cabinet.
The former minister lost the election in 2018 from the Hatpipaliya seat to Congress candidate, Manoj Choudhary, who had joined the BJP in March 2022 along with other 21 party MLAs including JyotiradiyaScindia loyalists, which caused the falling of the Nath-led Congress government. Choudhary won again from the same seat on BJP ticket in a subsequent bypolls. “Senior BJP leader, former Minister and former MLA Deepak Joshi Ji joined the Congress under the leadership of state Congress president Kamal Nath. Joshi ji is welcomed in the battle to save democracy and remove the jungle Raj from MP”, Congress tweeted.
Joshi accused BJP organisation and its government of ignoring the legacy of his late father.
Ahead of the state Assembly polls scheduled in November, his joining the Congress is considered a big jolt to the Saffron party especially because his was an extremely revered politician cutting across party lines and was known as saint of politics due to his honest and clean image.
Baghel was elected as an MLA from the Senoda Assembly seat in 2008 on a BSP ticket. Later he joined BJP and contested the election from the same seat in 2018 but lost to a Congress candidate.
