Scindia loyalist returns to Cong ahead of polls in MP

A loyalist of Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and working committee member of the Madhya Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party has joined the Congress.

Samandar Patel, 52, an Other Backward Classes leader from Jawad area of Neemuch, had joined the BJP when Scindia and MLAs loyal to him rebelled against the Congress in March 2020, leading to the collapse of the Kamal Nath government.

"The BJP neither accepted or respected me nor my supporters. I was never invited to party functions despite being a working committee member. In fact my supporters were bullied with false cases," he told PTI.

Patel came in a convoy of around 800 vehicles packed with supporters and joined the Congress on Friday in the presence of state unit chief Kamal Nath, a party functionary said.

"I am the fifth person from the Scindia camp to return to the Congress as I felt humiliated in the BJP, whose leaders are indulging in corruption in my area," said Patel, who claimed he was a staunch supporter of Madhavrao Scindia and his son Jyotiraditya since 1993.

He had fought as an Independent from Jawad in the 2018 assembly polls and garnered 35,000 votes, but he was expelled from the Congress before being readmitted before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

He claimed 7000 people from Jawad accompanied him when he rejoined the Congress on Friday.

Among the Scindia loyalists who have made their way back from BJP is former Shivpuri district Congress president Baijnath Singh Yadav.

Assembly polls are set to be held in MP at the end of the year.