Jolts to Congress continue, respected grass-roots leader Suresh Pachouri leaves for BJP in MP

Like other Congress leaders to join the BJP before him, Pachouri cited the party’s decision to stay away from the Ayodhya Ram Temple consecration ceremony as one of his main reasons.

His desertion is a psychological blow to the Congress as he is widely respected as “an honest politician who helped build the party at the grass-roots for years”.

Pachouri also accused the Congress of “raising questions” over the Army’s bravery, presumably referring to comments by party leaders – particularly senior Madhya Pradesh leader Digvijaya Singh – on cross-border “surgical strikes” conducted by the Modi government.

Speaking to reporters, Pachouri, 71, said: “I entered politics to serve the society. The Congress would talk about establishing a caste-less society, but now they are talking about caste. In the last few days, the political and religious decisions (taken by the Congress) made me uneasy. I have served in the Defence Ministry. Never were questions raised about the Army’s bravery. There was never talk to provide ‘evidence’ (as sought by Congress leaders regarding the ‘surgical strikes’),” Pachouri said.

Over the past few months, the BJP claims to have weaned away as many as 4,500 Congress workers from across the state to its side, including district presidents, mayors, sarpanchs.

Welcoming Pachouri into the BJP, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav said his decision showed that honest leaders were not respected in the Congress. “In every party, there are clean people. It is unfortunate that the Congress leadership has not been paying attention to leaders working for the nation. Why would any honest man work under such circumstances? The BJP welcomes such honest leaders… In democracy, we have resolved to work with everyone,” he said.

State BJP president V D Sharma noted that Pachouri had earned the moniker of “Saint of Madhya Pradesh” because of his honesty, and the BJP was proud to have him in its ranks.

“In the BJP, we would say Kailash Joshi was the Saint of Madhya Pradesh. If in the Congress, anyone had that position, it was Suresh Pachouri… While in the PMO, he worked under two Prime Ministers, he has looked after Defence, he also served as the national chief of the Seva Dal without being its president, which was not the norm,” Sharma said.

Former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan said he knew Pachouri since the time he was a student politician. “We followed different ideologies, but the culture I saw in him, I have been its admirer for years. The Congress was not the right place for him. He was a minister under two PMs, and there was never any hint of an allegation against him.”

Pachouri addressed the Ram Mandir issue head-on, while explaining his decision to quit. “Bhagwan Shri Ram’s consecration was announced… and using un-parliamentary language, the invitation was denied. I feel hurt because, from the start, I wanted the Ram Mandir to be built. In Ayodhya, the locks of Lord Ram temple were opened… under whose tenure did that take place (the Congress was in power at the Centre)? Then what was the need to deny the invitation letter? The Supreme Court gave a judgment (in favour of the temple) and we welcomed it. Under whose pressure did you have to spurn the invitation?”

Pachouri’s departure, incidentally, comes days after frenzied speculation about senior Congress leader Kamal Nath joining the BJP along with his son and sitting Chhindwara MP. Sources said that while he was keen, the BJP did not reciprocate the warmth.

In his remarks, CM Mohan Yadav also took potshots at senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and said his ongoing Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, which just passed through MP, had actually created a pro-BJP mood.

“Rahul Gandhi is walking, and behind him, the Congress is getting wiped out. I want to congratulate him, and wish that he takes out two-three more yatras. When he comes, the mood changes in our favour… Mahatma Gandhi was right when he had said after Independence that the Congress should be dissolved,” Yadav said.

There were some lighter moments as the Congress 2023 Indore-1 candidate Sanjay Shukla joined the BJP. Vijayvargiya, who had defeated him, joked: “We had to take your abuses and now we have to take you into the party.”

Shukla, who laughed along, later said Vijayvargiya was like his father. One of the richest Congress candidates in the 2023 Assembly elections, with over Rs 200 crore in assets, Shukla too said his reason was the Congress turning down the Ram Temple invite. “My family members including my father were BJP members. Now, years later, I have returned to the BJP… I felt I should be with the party which is serving Hindu religion and society,” he said.

However, Shukla’s loyalists say he is looking out for both his political future and his business interests. “Also, upper caste voters, including the Brahmin community to which Shukla belongs, seem to have shifted decisively towards the BJP due to the Ram Mandir issue,” a senior Congress leader said.

Pachouri began his political career with the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) in 1972. He went on to serve as general secretary of the Madhya Pradesh Youth Congress from 1981 to 1983, and later as president from 1984 to 1985. He was elevated to general secretary of the Indian Youth Congress in 1985, and held the post till 1988.

Simultaneously, in 1984, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha, and re-elected in 1990, 1996, and 2002. In 1995, a year before the end of his term as Prime Minister, P V Narasimha Rao inducted Pachouri as Minister of State in the Ministry of Defence. This role placed him at the forefront of national security matters.

When the Congress returned to power at the Centre in 2004, Pachouri was again made a minister, this time as MoS in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, and the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, and held the posts till 2008.

That year, he was made president of the MP Congress and headed it till 2011.

However, Pachouri has never won an electoral contest in his long political career, losing both times he got a ticket. In 1999, he fought firebrand BJP leader Uma Bharti from the Bhopal Lok Sabha seat, and lost by over 1.6 lakh votes. In 2013, he contested the Assembly elections from Bhojpur against Surendra Patwa, a minister in the Chouhan government, and lost by over 20,000 votes.

His detractors claimed he survived due to his proximity to the Gandhi family..