Blow to Congress as former Union minister Suresh Pachouri, ex-MP Rajukhedi join BJP

Former Union minister Suresh Pachouri on Saturday joined BJP in Bhopal. Along with Pachouri, ex-MP Gajendra Singh Rajukhedi and several others, including the party's former MLAs, also joined the saffron unit.

In a jolt to the Congress in Madhya Pradesh ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, senior leader and former Union minister Suresh Pachouri, ex-MP Gajendra Singh Rajukhedi and several others, including the party’s former MLAs, joined the BJP on Saturday.

At the state headquarters of the party in the morning, Pachouri, Rajukhedi, and other leaders joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, state BJP president V D Sharma, and former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

Former MLAs Sanjay Shukla, Arjun Paliya, Vishal Patel were among the leaders of the grand old party who also joined the ruling outfit.

After Congress leader Suresh Pachouri joined the BJP on Saturday, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said, "Rahul Gandhi will breathe only after finishing the Congress completely as suggested by Mahatma Gandhi. All good leaders of the Congress are tired of the party’s leadership which is directionless…Congress is on the verge of extinction.”

Pachouri, a close associate of the Gandhi family, was a four-term member of the grand old party's Rajya Sabha and the Union minister of state for defence (supply and production). He has previously served in the Congress in a number of significant capacities, most notably as president of the Madhya Pradesh unit. In addition, he served as the Youth Congress's state unit president.

Rajukhedi, a prominent tribal leader, was elected as an MP from Dhar (Scheduled Tribes) Lok Sabha seat on the Congress ticket for three terms - 1998, 1999 and 2009. Before joining the Congress, he was elected as a BJP MLA in 1990.