Revolt brews in Madhya Pradesh Congress over rebel MLAs

Bhopal: A revolt is brewing in ruling Congress over state party leadership’s move to woo two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators to ensure stability of Kamal Nath government.

Sources said senior Congress leader and former minister Ajay Singh was seriously upset at the decision by the chief minister Kamal Nath to bring two rebel BJP MLAs, Narayan Tripathi and Sharad Kol, to his side to provide stability to his government.

“Mr Singh smells a design in the move to cut him down to size in the party. He felt that the two rebel BJP MLAs’ entry into Congress would cut his influence in Vindhya region in Madhya Pradesh”, sources said.

Mr Singh, as it is, was of the view that sabotage by a powerful faction in Congress in MP had led to his defeat in Sidhi Assembly constituency in the 2018 polls. He had also earlier approached the chief minister who is also Pradesh Congress Committee president to probe into his defeat.

In a related development, several Congress leaders from Vindhya region on Friday protested the move to bring the two BJP MLAs into the party, saying that it would hurt the interest of the party in the region.