Congress' 6-time MLA Ramniwas Rawat from Madhya Pradesh joins BJP ahead of Lok Sabha elections 2024

Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Congress' 6-time MLA Ramniwas Rawat from Madhya Pradesh joined BJP on Tuesday giving another major jolt to the grand old party ahead of Lok Sabha elections 2024. 

Rawat, who is a sitting MLA from Vijaypur assembly constituency in Sheopur, took BJP membership on Tuesday in presence of Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, state BJP chief VD Sharma, former minister and convenor of the new joining committee Narottam Mishra, and others.

An open rebellion against Congress leadership: BJP

Speaking about Rawat joining the party, BJP spokesperson Rajneesh Agarwal said, “There is resentment in the Congress. They (Congress) are constantly making baseless allegations but they do not even realise that the ground beneath them is constantly slipping. It is an open rebellion against their leadership.” 

“Rahul Gandhi is making baseless statements, its (Congress) anti-Sanatan attitude, anti-Constitution attitude, their governments are doing politics of Muslim appeasement and snatching the rights of OBCs, this has been repeatedly proved, that is why Ramniwas Rawat and other Congress workers are leaving the Congress party,” Agarwal said.

Meanwhile, Congress leader KK Mishra said that despite trying hard, they could not stop Rawat from joining BJP.

"Undoubtedly, Ramniwas Rawat has been a senior leader of the Congress party. I respect him a lot. He has given a lot to the party and the party has also given a lot to him. I regret his leaving the party. We were all trying to convince him that he should serve the party, but when he had already made up his mind, what can be done about it," Mishra told ANI.Lok Sabha polls in Madhya Pradesh are being conducted in four phases. 

Lok Sabha polls 2024: Voting in Madhya Pradesh

The first phase of polling was held on April 19 and the second phase concluded on April 26. The next two phases will be conducted on May 7 and May 13. The counting of votes will be held on June 4.

(Inputs from agencies)