Bhopal: A prominent Brahmin leader with strong ties to the BJP has switched allegiance to the Congress ahead of the upcoming Madhya Pradesh elections. The Congress party continues its strategy of attracting and securing supporters of Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia in the state.
The recent development targets Govind Singh Rajput, a devoted follower of Scindia who was one of the 22 MLAs that defected to the BJP in March 2020. The Congress has taken a competitive stance against Rajput in his constituency of Surkhi in the Sagar district. They have introduced Neeraj Sharma, a prominent local Brahmin leader with considerable influence. Sharma, who is a prosperous contractor, private bus operator, and substantial farmer, reportedly led a motorcade of over 1000 vehicles from Rahatgarh, his hometown, to Bhopal (approximately 120 km), where he officially joined the Congress at the state party headquarters.
Interestingly, just before his Congress affiliation, the Rahatgarh police lodged a case against Sharma and his supporters under sections 353 and 186 of the Indian Penal Code (relating to assaulting or using force against a public servant to deter them from their duties). This was in response to a complaint lodged by the Regional Transport Office (RTO) in Sagar district.
Sharma had previously been associated with the Congress until 2009, but due to the increasing influence of Govind Singh Rajput, he joined the BJP. He won the Rahatgarh Janpad Panchayat chief elections in 2010 and subsequently the Rahatgarh Nagar Palika polls. In the 2010 Rahatgarh Janpad Panchayat elections, Sharma defeated Govind Singh Rajput’s older brother, Gulab Singh Rajput.
It’s worth noting that Govind Singh Rajput, who had previously won the Surkhi seat in 2003, 2008, and 2018 as a Congress candidate, retained the seat in November 2020 as a BJP candidate. He remains the sole Scindia loyalist minister within the current BJP government in Madhya Pradesh, overseeing the same portfolios (revenue and transport) he held during the previous Kamal Nath administration.
Furthermore, the Congress has managed to make inroads into one of the oldest BJP families in the Satna district of the Vindhya region. This was achieved by enlisting Devraj Bagri and Vandana Bagri, the son and daughter-in-law of the late Jugul Kishor Bagri, a five-time former BJP MLA.
