In another setback to the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, its leader and Chhindwara mayor joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Madhya Pradesh on Monday morning.
Vikram Ahake, the mayor of Chhindwara, joined the BJP in the presence of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and state party head VD Sharma in the capital Bhopal.
Last week, Kamlesh Shah, the Congress legislator from Amarwada in Chhindwara district and a close associate of party stalwart Kamal Nath, switched over to the BJP.
Chief Minister Yadav told reporters that Chhindwara Congress MP Nakul Nath had insulted the tribal community and Mr Ahake joined the BJP as he did not want to be in the party where tribals are not respected.
Chhindwara, which goes to polls in the first phase on April 19, is the home district of former state Chief Minister Kamal Nath.
Nakul Nath, the lone Congress winner in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh, has filed his nomination papers from Chhindwara, which his father Kamal Nath has represented for nine terms in Parliament.
The BJP has fielded Vivek Bunty Sahu from the seat this time.
Chief Minister Yadav said Mr Ahake joined the BJP because he was hurt by the insult meted out to the tribal community by Nakul Nath.
The chief minister also said that Nakul Nath insulted Amarwada MLA Kamlesh Shah, who belongs to the Gond tribal royal family, by terming him as dishonest and a "traitor".
"Chhindwara mayor Ahake said he doesn't want to stay in such a party where the tribals are insulted. So, he joined the BJP today," Mr Yadav said.
The Chhindwara Municipal Corporation chairman also joined the BJP along with other leaders, he said.
No stone will be left unturned for the development of Chhindwara, the Chief Minister added.
Kamal Nath is currently the MLA from the Chhindwara assembly seat. His wife Alka Nath was elected from the Chhindwara Lok Sabha seat in 1996.
Incidentally, the switch to the BJP from the Congress in Chhindwara gathered speed amid speculation some weeks ago that Kamal Nath and his MP son were planning to do so.
However, the father-son duo had called such news a creation of the media.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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