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Amid suspense over the next political move of Congress veteran Kamal Nath, several local leaders of the party from his stronghold of Chhindwara district joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday.
Welcoming them into the BJP fold, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav cryptically said many people are feeling anxious and they will eventually join the saffron party in the coming days.
The Congressmen who crossed over to the saffron fold in the presence of Yadav included state Congress general secretary Ujjwal Singh Chauhan, councillors, sarpanches, janpad members, and workers.
A Congress spokesperson said the Grand Old Party is not affected by deserters.
"Many people are feeling anxious. If not today, but tomorrow, they will join the BJP family. Nobody in the world will be able to prevent this from happening," the chief minister said while addressing a public meeting.
He also appealed to the people to ensure the BJP's victory in the Chhindwara Lok Sabha constituency.
Chhindwara, represented by Kamal Nath for nine terms in the past, is currently held by his son Nakul Nath.
It is the only constituency which the BJP failed to wrest from the Congress in the 2019 elections when the saffron party swept Madhya Pradesh by winning 28 of the 29 seats.
Chhindwara district BJP president claimed 1,500 Congressmen, including over 700 from the newly-created Pandhurna district, joined the BJP.
The new entrants in BJP include Pandhurna Nagar Palika chairman Sandeep Ghatode, Nagar Palika councillors, Pandhurna district janpad members, 16 sarpanchs, and others.
Pandhurna is one of the seven assembly segments under the Chhindwara Lok Sabha constituency.
"I came to Chhindwara today to thank the people of Madhya Pradesh for electing the BJP to power with a mandate of 163 seats (in assembly elections)," Yadav said.
The chief minister also inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for various developmental projects worth Rs 104 crore.
"No force in the world would be able to stop Madhya Pradesh from developing under the leadership of PM Modi. This is the time of Modi and the BJP government. It is the government of the poor. More than 25 crore people could come out of poverty in the country, including 2.5 crore in MP, only because of Modi," he said.
Yadav also took out a Jan Abhar Yatra from the Imlikheda airstrip to the venue of the public meeting.
Meanwhile, Congress spokesperson Anand Bakshi said the party and the organisation will not be affected if some workers cross over to other parties.
"However, the question is what will be the position of such people in other parties? They derived strength from the Congress organisation," he said.
The speculations about Kamal Nath's next political move refuse to die down even though party leaders were at pains to assert that he would stay with the Grand Old Party which shaped his political career.
Congress general secretary Bhanwar Jitendra Singh on Tuesday said the speculation of Nath joining the BJP is not true and claimed that such talks were a creation of the media and the saffron party.
A party leader had said Nath would participate in the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra after it enters Madhya Pradesh on March 2.
Notably, Nath and other leaders virtually attended a meeting to review preparations for the yatra a day earlier.