MP BJP patriarch Kailash Joshi's son Deepak to quit party, join Congress

BHOPAL: Six months before the assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, former minister of the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government and three times MLA Deepak Joshi announced he is ready to quit BJP and join the Congress.


Deepak Joshi is son of BJP patriarch Kailash Joshi who was also the ninth chief minister of Madhya Pradesh. Deepak Joshi has told the Congress leadership that he will be in Bhopal on May 6. Former chief minister and state Congress president Kamal Nath will give primary membership of the party to Deepak Joshi that day.

For the BJP, after the exit of prominent tribal leader Nandkumar Sai from the party in Chhattisgarh, the quitting of Kailash Joshi’s son would be a major blow before the elections.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, former minister for technical education Deepak Joshi said, "I may join the Congress. My father left a legacy based on honesty. Quitting BJP is a hard decision to take since my father was one of the founder leaders who established the party in Madhya Pradesh. I do not want a post or a ticket for the assembly elections from the Congress party. But the decision has nearly been taken that I am quitting the BJP."

Deepak Joshi was elected from his father’s tradition Bagli assembly seat in 2003. But after delimitation, he was shifted to Haatpipaliya constituency which he won twice in 2008 and 2013. However, he lost to Congress’ Manoj Choudhary in 2018 by a margin of 13,519 votes. Manoj Choudhary was one of the 22 Congress MLA who quit and followed Jyotiraditya Scindia to the BJP in March 2020, bringing down the 15-month Congress government.

In the November 2020, assembly bypolls in 28 assembly seats, Manoj Choudhary contested in Haatpipaliya with a BJP ticket. He won by a margin of 13,904 votes against the Congress’ Ravir Singh Baghel. Ever since the entry of the Scindia followers to the BJP, Deepak Joshi has been one of the saffron party’s original leaders who was peeved with the development.

A fortnight ago, the state BJP assigned 14 top party leaders to pacify party’s disgruntled workers including Union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar and Faggan Singh Kulaste, BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, former state BJP president Prabhat Jha and former ministers Maya Singh, Rajendra Shukla and Jaibhan Singh Pavaiya.

"I had informed the party and government of corruption issues in Bagli assembly seat which was represented by my father eight times. But no one is willing to listen or take action. Leaders of the BJP accused me of politicizing and accusing the party’s government," Deepak Joshi said.

He explained that even though Bagli constituency is now a reserved scheduled tribe seat, yet people go to him seeking help. Deepak Joshi had raised irregularities in the implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Scheme in Bagli constituency. In December, the Lokayukta registered cases against 45 officials of various departments for allegedly bungling with funds meant for the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana in Dewas district.