BHOPAL: After the successful Operation Holi with support of Jyotiraditya Scindia scripted fall of 15-month-old Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh, another Operation Lotus seems to have begun in the BJP ruled central Indian state.
In a Sunday shock to the Congress ahead of the 24 bulk assembly by-polls in the state, the first-time Congress MLA from Bada Malahra seat of Chhatarpur district of Bundelkhand region Pradumn Singh Lodhi turned a BJP man after meeting ex-CM Uma Bharti (most powerful Lodhi caste leader) and CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
Lodhi who had ended the 20-year-old winning streak of BJP from Bada Malahra seat by defeating then minister of state Lalita Yadav in 2018 assembly polls was seen in pictures exchanging sweets with CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan and state BJP president VD Sharma.
The Bada Malahra seat has been BJP citadel between 1998 and 2018. In 2003, when Uma Bharti led the BJP to return to power in the state, she herself won from the same seat, which was won on BJP ticket by her brother Swami Prasad Lodhi in 1998.
The seat is OBC Lodhi caste dominated seat and the first time Congress MLA from the seat, who turned a BJP man with Bharti's blessings on Sunday, could possibly be sworn in as a minister of state now in Shivraj Singh Chouhan government, which still has one ministerial vacancy after the July 2 second cabinet expansion.
Bharti, the national BJP vice president and ex union minister was reportedly upset on no Lodhi caste minister in the July 2 second cabinet expansion.
Meanwhile, state BJP spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal (who also hails from Bundelkhand region) claimed around half a dozen more Congress MLAs of the same region have love for BJP.
It must be noted that the first-time MLA Pradumn Singh Lodhi's cousin Rahul Singh Lodhi too is a Congress MLA from Damoh seat of Damoh district, who had defeated then finance minister and BJP veteran Jayant Malaiya in 2018 assembly polls.
Importantly, newly inducted cabinet minister Aidal Singh Kansana (one of the 22 Congress MLAs, who quit the Congress and the Vidhan Sabha in March) had on Saturday claimed that over 10 more Congress MLAs were in touch with him and will join BJP, if the saffron party gives a go ahead.
The Sunday's development is being seen as a psychological setback to Congress ahead of the bulk 24 assembly by polls, which the Congress wants to be held by September.
In March 2020, the 15-months-old Congress government led by Kamal Nath had been toppled after 22 Congress MLAs -- most of them Jyotiraditya Scindia loyalists -- had quit the Congress and Vidhan Sabha before joining the BJP following Scindia, who is now BJP's Rajya Sabha member.
With Sunday's development, the Congress now has 91 MLAs in the 230 member Vidhan Sabha, whose present strength is 206, after resignation of the 22 Scindia loyalists and demise of two sitting MLAs. The BJP has 107 MLAs and support of six independent, BSP and an expelled SP MLA.