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In a blow to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state, a former MLA and BJP leader Madan Kushwaha has joined Congress party ahead of the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections.
Kushwaha took the membership of the party in the presence of Congress National President Mallikarjun Kharge in Madhya Pradesh's Gwalior district on Tuesday. Kharge has arrived here to address an election rally in view of the forthcoming state assembly polls scheduled to be held this month. Kushwaha has been a supporter of Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and he had been elected an MLA from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BJP) during the 2008 state assembly polls. He was the MLA from Gwalior Rural assembly constituency in the district. After that during the 2013 assembly polls, he again contested from BSP but lost the election. Later, ahead of the 2018 assembly polls, Scindia, who was then in Congress party, had got him (Kushwaha) the membership of the Congress party and he fought the elections on Congress's ticket but lost. During the political upheaval that rocked the state in 2020 when Jyotiraditya Scindia, along with 22 loyalist MLAs, switched over to the saffron camp, Kushwaha also left the Congress and joined the BJP. It is said that Kushwaha was upset over not getting a ticket from BJP from Gwalior Rural assembly seat for upcoming state assembly polls and following which he again joined the Congress party. Madhya Pradesh is one of the five states set to undergo polls in one phase on November 17 and the counting of votes will take place on December 3. Voters will choose legislators from 230 Assembly constituencies. (ANI)
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