Ramniwas Rawat, six-time MLA and former working president of Congress's Madhya Pradesh unit, has dealt a massive blow to the grand old party by switching to the BJP. He was also a minister in the Digvijaya Singh Cabinet. Chief Minister Mohan Yadav inducted Ramniwas Rawat into the BJP in Sheopur.
Ramnivas Rawat has won the Vijaypur Assembly constituency in Sheopur district six times — 1990, 1993, 2003, 2008, 2013, and 2023. He had entered politics as a Youth Congress leader and rose up the ranks. He contested the Morena Lok Sabha seat in 2019, but lost it to BJP's Narendra Singh Tomar. The Morena seat covers the Sheopur and Morena districts. Morena will go to polls in the third phase on May 7.
According to several reports, Rawat wanted a ticket this time too. But the Congress chose Satyapal Singh Sikarwar over him as its candidate from the Morena Lok Sabha seat.
Congress Leaders' Exodus In MP Continues
Rawat is the latest in the long list of Congress leaders jumping ship. On Monday, Congress's Indore Lok Sabha seat candidate Akshay Kanti Bam withdrew his nomination, quit the party and switched to the BJP. His move camera right after a 10-year-old murder case was extended. Indore is slated to go to polls on May 13.
Last month, heavyweight Congress leader and former Union Minister Suresh Pachouri, Indore ex-MLA Sanjay Shukla and other former MLAs and MPs from Madhya Pradesh switched to the BJP.
Last year, former Nagod MLA Yadvendra Singh quit the party after he was denied a ticket for the Assembly polls. Soon after the Congress's thrashing defeat in the assembly elections, state unit president Kamal Nath was speculated to have decided to quit the party and join BJP. He even flew to Delhi amid the frenzied discussions around his departure.
However, the Congress seemed to have placated him and managed to retain his services.