Indira Bhawan, the Madhya Pradesh Congress headquarters, wore a festive air Saturday, as it got ready to welcome a batch of fresh party inductees. The fact that the nine new members were former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders from eight Madhya Pradesh districts, who had left the ruling party to join the Congress, made the occasion even more significant.

The state headquarter in Bhopal was decked up in party colours and patriotic songs played in the background, as the nine made the formal switch in the presence of state Congress chief Kamal Nath and national general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala.

The event was among the latest in a series of defections from the state BJP. Two days, later, on Monday, Mahendra Bagri — a former BJP legislator from Panna district — joined the Congress at Kamal Nath’s residence in Bhopal

At least 30 BJP office-bearers and leaders including a sitting MLA, a former member of Parliament and six former MLAs have joined the Congress over the past five months, 

According to sources in the Madhya Pradesh Congress, at least 40 leaders have joined the Congress in recent weeks, more than 30 of whom were formerly with the BJP. Sources added that many of these former BJP leaders will be pitted against BJP stalwarts and loyalists of Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia in the upcoming assembly polls with the objective of reaping the benefits of a ‘BJP versus BJP’ contest in key constituencies.

Of those 30, prominent names include that of Deepak Joshi — a former three-time MLA and son of former chief minister Kailash Joshi — who at the time of joining the Congress in May this year reportedly accused the BJP of neglecting its core workers. Another notable exit from the BJP was that of Hemant Lariya — brother of BJP MLA from Naryawali, Pradeep Lariya — who has told the media that he was upset with the party for denying him a ticket for the local body elections last year.

Among those inducted into the Congress Saturday were Birendra Raghuvanshi, the MLA from Shivpuri’s Kolaras constituency and Bhanwar Singh Shekhwat, a former two-term MLA who lost to the Congress candidate in Dhar’s Badnawar assembly constituency in the 2018 polls.

Hinting that more defections could follow, K.K. Mishra, chairman of the MP Congress’s media cell, Tuesday, “The same BJP that called for a Congress-mukt Madhya Pradesh will now witness a BJP-mukt Madhya Pradesh by the time of the assembly elections.” Mishra claimed that many other sitting BJP MLAs too will “join the party (Congress) soon”

Dismissing the claims that these exits reflect poorly on the party, state BJP spokesperson Hitesh Bajpai termed them “election posturing” by leaders who felt they might not get a ticket owing to lack of winnability. “Those leaving the BJP are doing so solely based on local equations. It has nothing to do with any leaders. These trends of quitting and joining the party will continue until ticket distribution concludes,

The Congress too has suffered some losses with its state media coordinator Narendra Saluja, spokesperson Shivam Shukla, former MLAs Abhay Mishra and Neelam Mishra from Rewa having joined the BJP. Husband-and-wife duo Abhay and Neelam were followed by their supporters, including district panchayat member Sundariya Adivasi, district Congress vice president Mishrilal Tiwari and district council member Rajendra Singh