Scindia Camp Leader Pramod Tandon Rejoins Congress Ahead Of Madhya Pradesh Elections

Tandon joined the BJP after Scindia along with numerous Congress MLAs loyal to him defected to the saffron party in March 2020, destabilising the state's Kamal Nath-led Congress administration.

Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.

Source : PTI

Ahead of the upcoming Madhya Pradesh assembly elections, Pramod Tandon, an associate of Union minister and BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, rejoined the Congress on Saturday, news agency PTI reported. Tandon, Ramkishore Shukla, and Dinesh Malhar were formally re-inducted into the Congress in Indore by the party's state unit president Kamal Nath.

Tandon joined the Bharatiya Janata Party after Scindia along with numerous Congress MLAs loyal to him defected to the saffron party in March 2020, destabilising the state's Kamal Nath-led Congress administration.

Tandon was appointed to the state BJP's working committee, however he just quit.

He was believed to be a fervent supporter of Jyotiraditya Scindia and his father, late Madhavrao Scindia.

On August 18, Samandar Patel, another BJP working committee member, returned to the Congress with hundreds of followers in Bhopal.

Tandon is the sixth politician from the Scindia group to rejoin Congress, according to Patel.

Another state BJP working committee member, Baijnath Singh Yadav, joined the Congress in July.

Earlier, Tandon resigned from the BJP's primary membership and state executive membership in a letter to BJP state president VD Sharma. Following his resignation, City Congress President Surjit Singh Chadha and acting President Golu Agnihotri visited Pramod Tandon's home to greet him and invite him back to the Congress party.

Tandon had said: "I have been a companion of Madhavrao Scindia. When I joined the BJP with Jyotiraditya Scindia, we had great affection and togetherness but now Scndia's priorities have changed. I have not talked to Scindia for six months. I am resigning because of BJP's arrogance and dictatorship," ANI reported. 

The state will have Assembly elections later this year. The state will elect legislators from 230 Assembly seats during the polls.

The Congress won the last Assembly elections in 2018, with senior politician Kamal Nath taking oath as chief minister.

Nonetheless, a political earthquake rocked the state in 2020, when then-Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia joined the BJP, along with 22 staunch MLAs.

After being reduced to a minority, the Congress administration disintegrated, and the BJP established a government, with Shivraj Singh Chouhan returning as chief minister.

(With Inputs From Agencies)