After 52 years in Congress, Pachouri joins BJP in MP

Bhopal: Former Union minister Suresh Pachouri snapped his 52-year-old links with the Congress and joined the BJP along an ex-MP and three former MLAs. Pachouri, 72, was known for his proximity to the Nehru-Gandhi family.

“Congress which used to claim to be a casteless and classless party is now dividing the country on the lines of caste,” he told reporters after embracing the BJP in the presence of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav.

Also at the event were MP BJP president Vishnu Dutt Sharma and former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

A four-time Rajya Sabha member, Pachouri was considered the Brahmin face of the party in Madhya Pradesh and had served in the P.V. Narasimha Rao and Dr Manmohan Singh ministries at the Centre. He had resigned from the Congress on Thursday.

In his resignation letter to AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, Pachouri saidL “I have given more than 50 years of my life in the Congress party... I have served the party and the government with absolute honesty and complete devotion.”

“Today, the way decisions are being taken by the party in the matters of public and religious significance has left me deeply hurt. I understand that the Congress has deviated from the very principles it has held and stood for.”

Amid speculation that Pachouri may be fielded from Narmadapuram in the upcoming polls, former chief minister Chouhan denied that there was any pre-condition for the veteran leader’s induction in the party.

Chief Minister Mohan Yadav took a dig at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, saying that wherever the MP from Wayanad went the Congress got wiped out. “The Congress is on the verge of extinction,” Chouhan said.

Prominent among those who joined the BJP with Pachouri included former three-time Congress MP Gajendra Singh Rajukhedi, a tribal leader, former Congress MLAs Sanjay Shukla, Arjun Palia and Vishal Patel and former Indian Youth Congress national general secretary Atul Sharma.