BHOPAL: In a windfall for the Madhya Pradesh unit of the Congress, a former MLA announced his return to the party fold while another MLA, formerly with the BSP, also joined the party.
Former MLA Jevier Meda (who was expelled from the party during the 2018 Assembly polls for contesting against the party’s official candidate) announced his return to the party in the tribal-dominated Jhabua district. On the other hand, ex-BSP MLA Balvir Singh Dandotiya, considered to be a powerful Brahmin politician in the Gwalior-Chambal region joined the Congress in the presence of state party chief and Chief Minister Kamal Nath.
Meda’s announcement is significant as it will boost the poll prospects of five-time sitting MP and former union minister Kantilal Bhuria, whose candidature from Ratlam-Jhabua is almost certain. Meda is seen as a political rival of Bhuria.
Meda, a tribal Christian, who was once close to AICC chief Rahul Gandhi and also to Jyotiraditya Scindia had contested from the Jhabua Assembly seat (one of the eight assembly segments of Ratlam-Jhabua LS seat) as an Independent in 2018, securing 35,000-plus votes which played a crucial role in BJP candidate GS Damor defeating Congress MP Kantilal Bhuria’s medico-turned-politician son Vikrant Bhuria.
Importantly, neither the Jhabua district party unit nor the state Congress spokesperson Shobha Oza in Bhopal had information of his return.
The development assumed significance, as Nath chaired a meeting of party MLAs and tribal ministers earlier in the day for a strategy on the six ST reserved Lok Sabha seats.