NEW DELHI: After poll reversal in Madhya Pradesh, the BJP is growing wary of the Congress’ attempts to wean away party legislators to shore up number in the state Assembly.
The BJP is sensing that the Congress could poach four of the party MLAs who in the past had been associated with the grand old party.
With Madhya Pradesh throwing a hung Assembly, the BJP leaders noted that the state is ripe for poaching of legislators from either side in the coming months.
“The MP chief minister Kamal Nath needs an Assembly constituency to contest within six months. The BSP and Independent MLAs may not vacate their constituencies to facilitate Nath becoming an MLA. The Congress will target BJP MLAs,” said a top ranking BJP functionary.
“The BJP too could make attempts to wean away Congress MLAs. But the party will watch the political developments in the state till the Lok Sabha elections. We don’t want to repeat the Karnataka experiences in the state which could send out wrong signals to the electorate. But the state poll verdict is indeed not for a stable government,” said another BJP functionary.
While the Congress won 114 seats, the BJP came close with 109 constituencies in the hung verdict in the state.
“Kamal Nath is known to be a master of post-poll management in state politics. The BJP’s task is currently cut out to keep the party flock together and ward off attempts of the Congress to poach party MLAs. But after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the state politics will see intense attempts from both the sides to get enough numbers to project a stable government,” added the BJP functionary.
Incidentally, the BJP after initial failed attempts had also decided to lie low in Karnataka till the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The weak link
The BJP is wary of losing four party MLAs, Sanjay Pathak (Vijay Raghogarh), Munmun Rai (Shivni), Swadesh Rai (Seoni) and Anirudh Maroo (Manasa), since they have come to the saffron outfit from other parties. The BJP leaders noted that Munmun Rai had recently joined the BJP.