FLIGHT OF THE FAITHFUL

DEEPAK JOSHI’S EXIT SCRIPT WAS SEALED IN 2020 WHEN 25 CONGRESS MLAs DEFECTED TO THE BJP

- Rahul Noronha

It was a political earthquake of sorts when, in 2020, Jyotiraditya Scindia led a coup that felled the Kamal Nath government and enabled the formation of the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh. The true gauge of its intensity is that its aftershocks are still being felt now-even if in reverse. With assembly election just about six months away, the realignment of political loyalties has begun. And the Congress is the first to draw blood, that too with a prize catch. Senior BJP leader Deepak Joshi is not just a three-term MLA and minister, but no less than the son of late chief minister Kailash Joshi-with deep roots in the Jana Sangh and the BJP.

On May 6, he joined the Congress in Bhopal in the presence of state Congress chief Kamal Nath. The day also saw another BJP leader, former BSP MLA Radhelal Baghel, changing sides.

Joshi's flight to the Congress was not sudden. In fact, the script for his move was sealed in 2020 when 25 MLAs had defected from the Congress to the BJP. Among them was Manoj Chaudhary, who had defeated Joshi in Hatpipliya in the 2018 assembly poll.