Alleging disrespect to memory of father late Kailash Joshi – former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh and a founder member of BJP – ex-minister Deepak Joshi on Saturday joined Congress in presence of the party’s state chief Kamal Nath.
Joshi’s joining the Congress six months ahead of assembly polls in the state is being seen as a big setback for ruling BJP especially because his father was an extremely revered politician cutting across party lines and was known as ‘rajnitik sant’ (political saint) due to his honest and clean image.
Late Kailash Joshi wielded great respect among BJP cadre and his mere presence in party office even at very old age would be enough to make any disgruntled cadre fall in line.
Deepak Joshi himself has been three-times MLA and was member of Shivraj Singh Chouhan cabinet in 2013-18 tenure. He however lost to Manoj Choudhary who was in Congress in 2018 and once Choudhary switched over to BJP along with Jyotiraditya Scindia supporters in 2020, Joshi got quite sidelined in the party.
He had been giving indications of his discontent and anger, especially on the issue of failure of the BJP government to construct a memorial to late Kailash Joshi despite Kamal Nath sanctioning land for the purpose in the family’s hometown Hatpipliya during his tenure as CM.
Even as news that Joshi might join the Congress had spread last week, state BJP president Vishnu Dutt Sharma and home minister Narottam Mishra had tried to project that it was an internal matter of the party that will be easily resolved and insisted that Joshi won’t shift sides.
However, Deepak Joshi reached the Congress state headquarters on Saturday along with a portrait of his father and joined formally. Another BJP ex-MLA Radhelal Baghel also joined Congress on the occasion.
‘I was hero, Shivraj was zero’
On this occasion, Joshi said that if the Congress would want, he was ready to contest Assembly polls against chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan as he knew tricks to defeat him (Chouhan).
Mentioning that he was college union president when Chouhan was nothing (both studied in same college in Bhopal), Joshi said that if his new party so indicates, he will start preparing to contest from Budhni (Chouhan’s constituency) within two-three days. “I was a hero, Shivraj was zero,” Joshi said in context of college politics.
Kamal Nath however refrained from making any commitment in this regard, mentioning that the ticket distribution will be decided by the local party workers for every seat.
Joshi, clearly offended by his disregard by BJP, made a number of allegations saying that the party had moved away from its culture and uprightness and had turned into a party of corruption and atrocities. “We talk about 40 per cent (commission taken by BJP government representatives) in Karnataka, but I think it is 80 per cent in Madhya Pradesh, such is the situation here.”
He also directly attacked CM Chouhan mentioning that while they made arrangements for even his basic needs during student days, now Chouhan has property worth Rs 9.5 crores as per his election affidavits.
“Our father left only a three-room house and some ancestral agricultural land for us, which I could not add to in any manner despite being a three-time MLA and minister. But Shivraj’s property grew to 9.5 crores. There is something amiss about this,” he said.
Joshi also said that he heard that Chouhan had referred to him as a ‘brother’, but he did not consider the CM as his brother because brothers should have the same ideology and then Chouhan would have to prove uprightness and cleanliness of politics.
Kamal Nath said that he did not know with what expectations Deepak Joshi had joined Congress as he did not seek any post or ticket, but the Congress had an expectation of him that he would take the message of importance of social values in politics – protected by the Joshi family – to the entire state.
Referring to his decision of immediately allotting land to construct Kailash Joshi’s memorial when Deepak asked for it, Nath said that he did it out of respect for the senior Joshi who was one of those who preserved values in politics and social life.
“This is a historic day not only for Congress but for Madhya Pradesh politics as Deepak Joshi who came from a family that protected social values had decided to join Congress to support truth. I invite all others who want to support the truth to join us,” he said.