Two months after 'ghar-wapsi', former Madhya Pradesh MLA, wife quit BJP again

Bhopal: With less than a month left for the high-octane Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, former MLAs Abhay Mishra and his wife Neelam Mishra on Wednesday resigned from the BJP - just months after being re-inducted into the ruling party.

The couple from Rewa district had joined the BJP barely two months back -- making a "ghar-wapsi" after they left the saffron party before the 2018 Assembly polls and contested elections on the Congress ticket.

Both the Mishras had been elected MLAs at different times on BJP ticket.

The couple's "ghar-wapsi" was showcased by the BJP as a major setback to the Congress just three months before the elections. However, rifts left the Mishra couple with no choice but to leave the party again.

The Mishra couple's return to the BJP was facilitated by state BJP President V. D. Sharma and Home Minister Narottam Mishra. However, the party's decision annoyed party leader Rajendra Shukla and he had then expressed his disappointment to the party's central leadership. As a sop, Shukla was made cabinet minister in the last minute cabinet expansion.

Rewa's Semaria assembly constituency is being mooted the reason behind the conflict between Shukla and Mishra. Shukla is favouring his loyalist MLA K.P. Tripathi from Semaria. In the last elections, Mishra had contested against Shukla in the seat, but had lost with a big margin.

Mishra is likely to join the Congress again, sources told IANS, adding that he is most likely to contest the election on the party ticket either from Rewa or Semaria.

Meanwhile, earlier in the day, former Speaker Sriniwas Tiwari's grandson Siddharth Tiwari joined the BJP after he was denied ticket by the Congress. Siddharth's family has been associated with the Congress for the last 50 years. His father Sundarlal Tiwari was also a Lok Sabha MP from Rewa.