In a jolt to the Congress in Madhya Pradesh ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, senior leader and former Union minister Suresh Pachouri, ex-MP Gajendra Singh Rajukhedi and several others, including the party’s former MLAs, joined the BJP on Saturday. Pachouri, 71, who was close to the Gandhi family, was Union minister of state for defence (defence production and supplies), and also served as a four-time Rajya Sabha member of the Congress.

He had earlier held several key positions in the Congress, including the post of the party’s Madhya Pradesh unit president. He was also the state unit president of the Youth Congress.

The leaders joined the BJP in the presence of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, state BJP president V D Sharma and former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan at the party’s state headquarters in the morning. Former MLAs Sanjay Shukla (Indore-1), Arjun Paliya (Pipariya), Vishal Patel (Depalpur) were among the leaders of the grand old party who also joined the ruling outfit.

After joining the BJP, Pachouri slammed the Congress, saying it used to talk about a casteless and classless society earlier, but was dividing the country on the caste lines now. “Congress is now talking about the caste divide, which resulted in increasing caste conflict in the country now,” he said.

Welcoming Pachouri into party fold, former CM Chouhan said that the veteran leader did not put forth any conditions before joining the party. “Pachouri ji joined the BJP without setting any conditions. When Pachouri ji was asked about it, he said Congress has become irrelevant and doesn’t have leadership and policy. He wanted to serve the country under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership,” Chouhan said.

Rajukhedi, a prominent tribal leader, was elected as an MP from Dhar (Scheduled Tribes) Lok Sabha seat on the Congress ticket thrice - in 1998, 1999 and 2009. Before joining the Congress, he was elected as a BJP MLA in 1990.

Several other leaders, including former district Congress president of Bhopal, Kailash Mishra, former state unit chief of the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), the students’ wing of the party, Atul Sharma, senior Congress leader Alok Chansoriya also joined along with Pachouri.

Meanwhile, a letter dated March 7 addressed to Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge by Pachouri also surfaced on social media in which the latter said he was resigning from the party. In the letter, Pachouri said he served the Congress for 50 years, but the party has now deviated from the principles that it once stood for.