Ahead of the Madhya Pradesh assembly polls due this year-end, Congress MLA Sachin Birla on Sunday took the BJP's membership and formally joined the ruling party.

The first-time MLA from Barwaha constituency in Khargone district, Birla (40) took the BJP's membership during a function at the party's state office here in the presence of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and MP party unit chief VD Sharma.

He crossed over to the BJP in October 2021, but did not give up membership of the legislature. The Congress did not expel him either.

In the 2018 assembly elections, Birla won the Barwaha seat due to the support of Gurjar voters and other backward communities.

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