Former BJP MLA from Madhya Pradesh’s Katni district Dhruv Pratap Singh joined the Congress party on Friday. Dhruv Pratap, along with another leader Shankar Mahto, joined the grand old party in the presence of former CMs Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh at an event in Bhopal. Druv Pratap has been an MLA from Vijayraghavgarh seat in Katni district, while Shankar Mahto is counted among the strong leaders of Bahoriband area in Katni. Dhruv Pratap has been airing his grievances with state president V D Sharma for some time. Attacking Sharma, Dhruv Pratap said, “The organisation of the BJP is at its lowest level at the moment. V D Sharma became state president without any field experience. They don't have time to talk to the workers. They are busy in their lavish life.” Dhruv Pratap was also disgruntled over the growing closeness of the current Vijayraghavgarh MLA Sanjay Pathak with Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. “Sanjay Pathak was a Congress leader who joined the BJP. He became close to the CM. He is not good for democracy. He is only concerned with himself and about money. The BJP has strayed from its core ideology and has become a party of leaders who are concerned with money. The BJP will lose the election because the ‘karyakartas’ are feeling low,” Singh told The Indian Express. BJP spokesperson Pankaj Chaturvedi said, “During elections these things happen. We respect his decision. It is his personal decision. We will keep working towards development and democracy.” Singh had joined the BJP in 1980s and was the ‘mandal adhyaksh’ from Badwara for 14 years between 1988 and 2002. He fought his first election from Badwara and lost by a margin of 2,000 votes to the Congress candidate. In 2003, he was fielded from Vijayraghavgarh, where he defeated Satyendra Pathak of the Congress, who was a minister then. He lost his third election in 2008. He was then nominated as the district party president of Katni district, Madhya Pradesh, in 2010.
