Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's brother-in-law Sanjay Singh Masani joined the Congress Saturday, saying the state needs party chief Kamal Nath and not Chouhan as the CM.
Masani is the brother of Chouhan's wife Sadhna Singh.
He joined the Congress in the presence of its Madhya Pradesh unit president Kamal Nath and another senior state leader Jyotiraditya Scindia in Delhi, and said MP needs a leader like Nath not Chouhan.
Polls in the state are scheduled to be held on November 28.
"Madhya Pradesh does not need Shivraj but Nath. We all know how Chhindwara has been developed and is identified with Kamal Nath. The state also needs to be identified with him," Masani said.
Nath represents Chhindwara in the Lok Sabha.
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While he lashed out at the BJP for ignoring "kaamdars" (those who work) at the cost of "naamdars" (big names), Masani said he should not be projected as a family member of Chouhan but only as his relative.
"My name is Sanjay Singh Masani. My family lineage and 'gotra' are different," he said.
Kamal Nath told reporters that all sections of society are affected by Chouhan's misrule, and the decision of Masani to join the Congress is a reflection of people's wish to chart a new course of development in the state.
The BJP has been in power in the state since 2003.
Interestingly, former chief minister and Congress veteran Digvijay Singh had suffered a somewhat similar embarrassment in 2004 when his brother Laxman Singh joined the BJP after the elder brother lost the 2003 assembly elections.
Laxman Singh later returned to the Congress.
Commenting on Saturday's developments, MP Congress media cell's chairperson Shobha Oza said, "It shows how unrest is brewing in the BJP because of misrule of the Chouhan government."
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