In a setback to the Congress in Madhya Pradesh just a couple of months before the Lok Sabha elections, Jabalpur Mayor Jagat Singh Annu quit the party to join the ruling BJP Wednesday, saying he was upset with the Congress since it declined the invitation for the Ram Mandir consecration ceremony in Ayodhya last month.

Annu took membership of the BJP at the party headquarters in Bhopal in the presence of Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, state BJP chief V D Sharma, former state home minister Narottam Mishra, among other senior leaders, which highlighted the importance of the event as Annu was the first Congress Mayor in Jabalpur in 18 years. He was also considered close to former CM Kamal Nath and another senior Congress leader Vivek Tankha.

Jabalpur is the nerve centre of the Mahakaushal region where the Congress has been reduced to nine Assembly seats, most of which are in Chhindwara, Kamal Nath’s home turf.

Annu said he was “hurt since the day Congress rejected the invitation to go to the Pran Pratishtha (consecration) of Lord Ram Mandir”.

He said, “I will develop Jabalpur as a metropolis with the development policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the double engine government.”

Meanwhile, in Guna, Congress leader Sumer Singh, a known loyalist of former CM Digvijaya Singh, also switched to the BJP, citing the same reason as Annu.

Sumer told The Indian Express, “I have always been with the Congress. I left the party as I was angry over the way it dealt with the Ram Mandir event. He is our God and we express our love to him. I can’t be with a party which disrespects Ram. We can’t accept it.”

Sumer, who was elected as the Guna district panchayat president as the Congress nominee during 2010-15, joined the BJP Wednesday in the presence of Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, who had walked out of the Congress with his loyalists in early 2020.

Along with Annu, several other Congress leaders – including Dindori’s district panchayat president Rudesh Paraste and vice-president Anju Jitendra Beohar, Singrauli’s district panchayat vice-president Archana Singh – joined the BJP. Their induction into the BJP is being seen as the pary’s bid to further weaken the Congress and bolster its prospects in the Lok Sabha elections.

A few days ago, Congress leader Ekta Thakur, its candidate from the Mahakaushal region’s Sihora seat in the November Assembly elections, joined the BJP. On January 19, former Congress MLA from Morena and a Scindia loyalist, Rakesh Mavai, switched to the BJP.

The Jabalpur Mayor had been complaining about the “difficulty” in getting work done in the city with some Congress leaders close to him alleging that he was “pressured” by the BJP to join the party.

Following the Congress’s rout in the Assembly polls, Annu was said to be warming up to senior BJP leaders, including CM Yadav, in public, as seen during Union Minister Nitin Gadkari’s visit to Jabalpur last month.

“Ahead of the Ram Mandir event, Annu went on an overdrive to ensure that Jabalpur was decked up for the celebrations, even as he promised to take all the councillors to Ayodhya,” sources close to him said.

The state Congress was stunned by Annu’s move, with its spokesperson K K Mishra declining to make any comment. A Congress leader however said his exit has jolted the party workers ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. “This is another win for the BJP which is aiming to eventually make its way to Chhindwara and also win that lone seat (out of 29 seats) it did not win in 2019 Lok Sabha polls,” he said.

At the Bhopal event, welcoming Annu and other Congress leaders into the BJP fold, CM Yadav said, “BJP family is growing and there is a waiting list of leaders to join the party.”

He said, “Those who took the BJP membership today were upset with the Congress because in the Congress the family (Nehru-Gandhi family) progresses, while in the BJP due to collective leadership even a small worker like me gets respect. All these leaders now want to follow PM Modi’s leadership and develop their respective areas.”

V D Sharma said, “Mahakoshal is becoming Congress-free and now even Congress has Modi in their mind.”

He also said, “Today, leaders from Jabalpur to Dindori have joined the party. I assure that everyone will get an opportunity to work with respect…We will win all 29 Lok Sabha seats in the state.”