Scindia supporter quits BJP, returns to Congress ahead of MP polls

Bharatiya Janata Party's Shivpuri district vice-president Rakesh Gupta, considered close to Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, has joined the Congress along with his supporters, marking his return to the Opposition party ahead of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls.

Gupta had switched over to the BJP from the Congress in early 2020 when there was a change of government in the state following the collapse of the 15-month-old Kamal Nath regime. Scindia had also joined the saffron party in 2020 after quitting the Congress. Gupta, along with his hundreds of supporters, joined the Congress in the presence of MPCC president Kamal Nath on Monday in Bhopal, a party release said. Besides the BJP functionary, nearly 500 others took membership of the Congress in the presence of Nath, it added. Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh are due by the year-end.