Kamal Nath aide quits Cong, says no other option as son joined BJP

FORMER MADHYA Pradesh minister Deepak Saxena, a close ally of former chief minister Kamal Nath, left the Congress party on Thursday – the same day that his son Ajay Saxena joined the BJP along with 400 other Congress members from Nath’s bastion of Chhindwara.

Deepak Saxena told The Indian Express that he had no issues with Kamal Nath, with whom he has been associated for more than four decades, and that he had to leave the Congress because his son joined the BJP.

“I had no issue with Kamal Nath. My son wanted to join the BJP, and I tried to convince him not to take that decision. I don't know why he left the party,” he said. “People would have said that the father and son are asking for votes in two different parties, so I had no choice but to leave (the Congress),” he added.

Ajay Saxena and the Congress functionaries who joined the BJP were welcomed by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and BJP state president V D Sharma.

Apart from Ajay, those who switched over from the Congress include state secretary of the Women's Front from Chhindwara, Suhagwati Sareyam; in-charge of Junnardeo Vidhan Sabha seat Narendra Singh Thakur; district in-charge of the party’s student wing, NSUI, Arish Khan; Municipal Corporation of Chhindwara councillor Ram Sharma; and chairman of the Chhindwara Municipal Corporation, Chandrabhan Devre.

In a letter addressed to Kamal Na th, deep a ks axe na wrote,“i will always be indebted and grateful to you for having faith and trust in a farmer like me and for involving me in active politics.”