Fifty-three rebel leaders were reportedly expelled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Madhya Pradesh on Thursday, November 15. Senior BJP leader Sartaj Singh, Bhind MLA Narendra Kushwaha, former minister Ramkrishna Kusmaria and Gwalior’s former mayor Samiksha Gupta are amongst the big names that were ousted. In addition, Raj Kumar Yadav, Lata Mehsaki and Dheeraj Pateria were also removed.

The reason cited by the party for the expulsion of the 53 leaders is reportedly ‘indiscipline’.

Of these, Singh had already defected to the Congress the previous week. The two-time MLA who represented the Seoni-Malwa constituency will now be contesting the state elections on a Congress ticket from Hoshangabad.

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Kushmaria and Gupta had also announced that they would be contesting elections as independent candidates. On Wednesday, November 14, Gupta had declared that she had quit the BJP. “Dedicated party workers are being ignored. So I have resigned from the party,” the former Mayor had said.

Madhya Pradesh has a 230-member legislative assembly. It will be going for polls in a single-phase election on November 28. Results for the polls will be announced on December 11. With a strong anti-incumbency wave in the state threatening Chief Minister Shivraj Singh’s ouster, the expulsion of prominent leaders this close to the elections indicates that all is not well in the party camp.

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