MP: Scindia loyalist Samandar Patel leaves in 800-car convoy to rejoin Congress in Bhopal
Bhopal, Aug 19: A loyalist of Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and working committee member of the Madhya Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party has joined the Congress.
Samandar Patel (52), an Other Backward Classes leader from Jawad area of Neemuch, had joined the BJP when Scindia and MLAs loyal to him rebelled against the Congress in March 2020, leading to the collapse of the Kamal Nath government.
"The BJP neither accepted or respected me nor my supporters. I was never invited to party functions despite being a working committee member. In fact my supporters were bullied with false cases," he told PTI.
Patel came in a convoy of around 800 vehicles packed with supporters and joined the Congress on Friday in the presence of state unit chief Kamal Nath, a party functionary said.
"I am the fifth person from the Scindia camp to return to the Congress as I felt humiliated in the BJP, whose leaders are indulging in corruption in my area," said Patel, who claimed he was a staunch supporter of Madhavrao Scindia and his son Jyotiraditya since 1993.
He had fought as an Independent from Jawad in the 2018 Assembly polls and garnered 35,000 votes, but he was expelled from the Congress before being readmitted before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
He claimed 7000 people from Jawad accompanied him when he rejoined the Congress on Friday.
Among the Scindia loyalists who have made their way back from BJP is former Shivpuri district Congress president Baijnath Singh Yadav.
Assembly polls are set to be held in MP at the end of the year.
Massive boost for Congress and set back for BJP in Madhya Pradesh as close Scindia confidante Sh. Samandar Patel on the way to Bhopal to join congress party.
— Anshuman Sail Nehru (@AnshumanSail) August 18, 2023
Sh. Patel alongwith his 5000 supporters are coming from over 1200 vehicles to show his strength and join congress. pic.twitter.com/2lezg0Vnxg
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Death toll from Israeli strikes in northeast Lebanon rises from 8 to 24, Lebanese news agency says
Deir al-Balah, Nov 1: Israeli airstrikes on Friday killed at least 24 people in northeastern Lebanon, the country's news agency said, raising the death toll from eight there.
It was the latest deadly toll in the area since the conflict between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah escalated last month.
Israel's military has said that its operation in Lebanon is targeting Hezbollah's military infrastructure.
Lebanon's state National news Agency reported four airstrikes in different villages across country's northeast, saying rescuers were still searching for survivors in Younine, a town in the Bekaa Valley, from the rubble of a targeted house.
Hussein Haj Hassan, a Lebanese lawmaker representing the region in Baalbek-Hermel region, said that 60,000 people have already fled their homes in the area due to Israeli bombardment.
