Former BJP leader Laxman Tiwari joins Congress in MP

Hundreds of Congress workers and leaders like former Union minister Suresh Pachouri have joined the BJP in the last two months.Tiwari had won election from the Mauganj assembly constituency in 2008 as the candidate of the Bharatiya Jan Shakti Party BJSP floated by former Chief Minister Uma Bharti.

Former Madhya Pradesh MLA and ex-BJP leader Laxman Tiwari joined the Congress here on Monday, hours after the opposition party saw another high-profile exit from its ranks in Chhindwara, the home district of former CM Kamal Nath.

After joining the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Tiwari stressed on strengthening the opposition party which is losing leaders and workers in droves in the BJP-ruled state.

He joined the Congress a day after meeting the party's state unit president Jitu Patwari here.

Earlier in the day, Congress leader and Chhindwara mayor Vikram Ahake joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Last week, Kamlesh Shah, the Congress MLA from Amarwada in Chhindwara district and a close associate of party stalwart Kamal Nath, switched over to the BJP.

Tiwari's induction into the Congress came at a time when the grand old party is facing large-scale desertions from its ranks. Hundreds of Congress workers and leaders like former Union minister Suresh Pachouri have joined the BJP in the last two months.

Tiwari had won election from the Mauganj assembly constituency in 2008 as the candidate of the Bharatiya Jan Shakti Party (BJSP) floated by former Chief Minister Uma Bharti. After the BJSP merged with the BJP, he contested from Mauganj in 2013 as the saffron party nominee, but lost.

In the 2018 assembly polls, the BJP denied him re-nomination from the seat, leading him to rebel and enter the fray as an Independent candidate. Tiwari lost again but pocketed 10,000 votes.

Last year, he joined the Samajwadi Party (SP) and unsuccessfully fought the assembly polls from Sirmaur in Rewa district.

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