BHOPAL: In a stunning blow to Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, party MLA from
Amarwara
assembly seat, Kamlesh Shah - a close aide of former CM
Kamal Nath
- joined BJP on Friday.
The most important tower of Kamal Nath's Chhindwara citadel has now fallen into BJP hands. Nath finds himself holding the Chhindwara fort alone as his loyalists desert him.
It's Amarwara assembly segment that gave Nath's son
Nakul Nath
the crucial lead in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, helping Congress retain the Nath bastion despite the saffron wave that swept up 28 of 29 LS seats in the state.
Kamal Nath made an emotional appeal to the people of Chhindwara. "Support me till my last breath," he said. Chhindwara votes in the first phase on April 19, less than three weeks from now.
After joining BJP, Shah said, "I have been elected MLA from Amarwara on Congress tickets for the third time. Today, I have taken primary membership of BJP after being influenced by the schemes and developmental works of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Now, we will work for the all-round development of Amarwara and Chhindwara. We will work to get a historic win for BJP candidate Vivek Bunty Sahu in
Chhindwara Lok Sabha constituency
."
Shah's defection sent tremors through Congress. He is the first MLA to switch to BJP barely three months after the 2023 assembly polls. He will have to seek re-election within six months if BJP fields him in the bypoll. A three-time MLA, Shah was one of Nath's closest confidantes. He joined BJP along with his wife Madhavi Shah - a former chairperson of Harrai town council - and sister Kesar Netam, a Chhindwara district panchayat member.
Amarwara is a tribal reserved seat, one of the seven assembly segments of Chhindwara Lok Sabha constituency where Nakul Nath is pitted against BJP's district president Vivek Bunty Sahu. Chhindwara is the last Congress bastion in Madhya Pradesh where it won all seven assembly seats in the Nov 2023 assembly election.
In 2019, Nakul won Chhindwara by 37,536 votes - nearly 60% of this lead came in Amarwara.
BJP had taken the lead in three assembly segments - Pandhurna, Parasia and Chourai - while Congress won in Amarwara, Chhindwara, Sausar and Junnardeo. Amarwara gave Nakul a lead of 22,256 votes which gave him the edge.
On Friday afternoon, word spread like wildfire that Kamlesh Shah was seen entering chief minister Mohan Yadav's official residence in Bhopal. A high-level BJP meeting was on to chalk out the strategy for Lok Sabha elections. Apart from the CM, state BJP president VD Sharma, BJP national co-organisational general secretary Shiv Prakash, Lok Sabha election in-charge for Madhya Pradesh Mahendra Singh, co-in-charge Satish Upadhyay and state organizational general secretary Hitananda Sharma were meeting party MLAs, district presidents, in-charges of Lok Sabha constituencies and other office bearers.
Shah was ushered into the meeting by cabinet minister Kailash Vijayvargiya, who has been put in charge of Chhindwara Lok Sabha seat by the BJP central leadership. Shah was taken into the meeting hall where he was given primary membership of the party by CM Yadav and Sharma.
In Chhindwara, Kamal Nath poured his heart out to voters. Addressing a public meeting in Beejagoda in Parasia assembly segment, Nath said, "BJP has been in power for 20 years. They talk big but it is I who gets work done for Chhindwara. Nobody's work can be stopped in Chhindwara. I will get everyone's work done. I give you my guarantee. Support me till my last breath. I have left no stone unturned for Chhindwara's development in the last 44 years."
Over the last two months, the ruling BJP has been relentlessly chipping away at the Congress citadel in Chhindwara. So far, it had succeeded in breaking away former MLAs, panchayat members and some party office-bearers. It was often said that in Chhindwara, Congress rules from the panchayats to Parliament. Not anymore.
Speaking to reporters, minister for rural development Prahlad Patel said, "Kamlesh Shah comes from the established Harrai royal family. He has come to BJP after being inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We welcome him."
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