In a setback to the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, its three-term MLA from Amarwara in Madhya Pradesh's Chhindwara district, Kamlesh Shah, on Friday joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) here.

Chhindwara, which goes to polls in the first phase on April 19, is the home district of Congress stalwart and former chief minister Kamal Nath.

Shah was welcomed into the BJP by the party's national joint general secretary Shiv Prakash, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and state party president Vishnu Dutt Sharma.

The three-term Congress MLA joined the BJP along with his wife, Harrai Nagar Palika chairperson Madhvi Shah, and sister, district panchayat member Kesar Netam.

Shah and his family members joined the saffron outfit as they were impressed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's developmental works, a BJP leader said.

The state BJP's Lok Sabha poll in-charge Mahendra Singh, joint in-charge Satish Upadhyaya and senior minister Kailash Vijaywargiya, among others, were present on the occasion.

Shah won from Amarwara in 2013, 2018 and 2023 assembly polls on a Congress ticket.

Nakul Nath, the lone Congress winner in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh, has filed his nomination papers from Chhindwara, which his father Kamal Nath has represented for nine terms in Parliament. Kamal Nath is currently the MLA from the Chhindwara assembly seat.

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