Another blow to Congress in MP: Bina MLA Nirmala Sapre joins BJP

The Congress on Sunday suffered another setback when its Bina MLA Nirmala Sapre joined the BJP in the presence of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav. Bina comes under the Sagar Lok Sabha constituency, which will vote on May 7. The exit comes just two days before polling in Sagar.  

After joining the saffron party, Sapre said the Congress does not have any agenda for the future and that she has joined the development stream. "PM Modi and CM Mohan Yadav have the agenda of development. I have joined the stream of development. The Congress does not have an agenda for the future. It has no hope for development in the future," she said. 

Sapre's exit comes just days after Congress's Indore Lok Sabha candidate Akshay Kanti Bamb withdrew his nomination and later joined the BJP. Akshay Kanti Bam, who had been pitted against BJP’s sitting MP Shankar Lalwani, shocked the grand old party on April 29, the last day for withdrawal of nomination, after he pulled out of the race and switched over to the saffron party.

Akshay Kanti Bam recently rejected charges that he joined BJP as part of a "deal", and wondered how can anyone lure him who wears a wristwatch worth Rs 15 lakh. Bam's April 29 move edged Congress out of the contest against BJP candidate from Indore Shankar Lalwani. "What I possess (assets) and what I don't have is already clear. What will anyone offer in a deal to a man who wears a wristwatch worth ₹ 15 lakh?" Bam told reporters at Alirajpur.

The Indore constituency in Madhya Pradesh will go to polls on May 13.