BJP's massive membership drive in Scindia bastion riles up Madhya Pradesh Congress

Bhopal: The just-concluded membership drive by BJP in poll-bound Gwalior-Chambal region in Madhya Pradesh that wooed 76,361 Congress workers, mostly loyalists of Rajya Sabha member Jyotiraditya Scindia, into its fold has ‘rattled’ the grand old party.

Congress has however put up a brave front, daring the ruling party to make public the list of Congress workers who joined the saffron outfit in the region.

"The BJP has hyped its whole exercise of membership drive in Gwalior-Chambal region. The party showed its existing members as new members. I challenge BJP to come out with a list of Congress workers who joined BJP," senior Congress leader and former minister PC Sharma told reporters on Tuesday.

Sharma said Congress continued to enjoy a mass base in the region and it would be reflected in the upcoming assembly by-elections in the area.

BJP however countered Sharma saying that the party was ready to provide addresses and names of the Congress workers in Gwalior-Chambal who joined BJP.

"Congress is rattled by the mass exodus of party workers in Gwalior-Chambal to join BJP. The membership drive by BJP has totally wiped out Congress in the region. Earlier, Congress leaders joined BJP. Now, ground level workers of Congress crossed over to BJP," BJP spokesman Rajneesh Agrawal said.

Eighteen of the 27 Assembly constituencies that are going to by-elections in MP in coming days fall in Gwalior-Chambal region.

Twenty-two former Congress MLAs, all Scindia’s loyalists, had resigned from the Assembly in March this year to pull down the 15-month-old Kamal Nath government. They later joined BJP following in the footsteps of Scindia. Later, three Congress legislators resigned from the house and later from the party to join BJP.

Two MLAs, one from Congress and the other from BJP, have recently passed away necessitating by-elections in their constituencies.

The Congress workers who joined BJP were from the Lok Sabha constituencies of Gwalior, Morena, Guna and Bhind.

The Gwalior and Guna LS constituencies are said to be pocket boroughs of Scindia family. Scindia however lost the last LS elections in Guna.