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This story is from February 5, 2019

Expelled BJP veteran and former minister Ramkrishna Kusmariya to join Congress

After failing to persuade Kusmariya to withdraw his independent candidature from the two seats, BJP expelled him along with another former minister and veteran Sartaj Singh. Sartaj Singh joined and contested on Congress ticket from Hoshangabad assembly seat and lost while Kusmariya secured only 1133 votes in Damoh and 8755 votes in Pathariya as independent candidate.
Expelled BJP veteran and former minister Ramkrishna Kusmariya to join Congress
BHOPAL: Former minister for agriculture in the erstwhile Shivraj Singh Chouhan cabinet Ramkrishna Kusmariya is all set to join the Congress party in the presence of AICC presence Rahul Gandhi on Friday. Five times BJP MP and three times MLA, 76-year-old Kusmariya aka Babaji was denied a party ticket by the BJP before November assembly elections last year.
He filed his nomination papers as independent and contested from two assembly seats including Damoh and Pathariya but lost both.
After failing to persuade Kusmariya to withdraw his independent candidature from the two seats, BJP expelled him along with another former minister and veteran Sartaj Singh. Sartaj Singh joined and contested on Congress ticket from Hoshangabad assembly seat and lost while Kusmariya secured only 1133 votes in Damoh and 8755 votes in Pathariya as independent candidate.
On Tuesday, the state PCC office confirmed that Ramkrishna Kusmariya, holding a PhD in agricultural science will join the Congress party and will be given membership by Rahul Gandhi during the farmers’ rally to be held in Jambooree Maidan here on Friday.
“Ramkrishna Kusmariya is a veteran politician and is joining the Congress party. From the first day, chief minister Kamal Nath made it very clear that Congress party’s door is open for all those who believe our ideology and is willing to work for the party. BJP has humiliated their senior leaders and done injustice to them,” said PCC media committee chairperson Shobha Oza.
For Congress party, Kusmariya is a prize catch even after he lost the assembly seats of Damoh and Pathariya. Sources in the Congress said that Kusmariya is likely to be fielded by his new party from Damoh Lok Sabha seat which the party has been losing since 1989.
Kusmariya himself as BJP candidate defeated Congress four times from the seat. Chief minister Kamal Nath’s calculations are on the caste equations. In Bundelkhand region spreading over six districts of Madhya Pradesh including Damoh, there are two powerful OBC communities – Lodhis and Kurmi Patel. Kusmariya belongs to the second category while BJP leaders like
Uma Bharti and Prahlad Patel belong to the former. Former union minister of state Prahlad Patel is the sitting MP from Damoh but wants to change his seat and is like to contest from Hoshangabad. This is where Congress sees the opportunity.
Speaking to TOI, BJP national vice-president Prabhat Jha said, “Ramkrishna Kusmariya is one of those leaders who lit the lamp of Jan Sangh. I am sure he will not blow-out that lamp.”
A week ago, Ramkrishna Kusmariya was seen at the residence of another octogenarian BJP former chief minister Babulal Gaur who was asked to step-down from the post of cabinet minister in June 2016 because of his old age. Sitting with Babulal Gaur on a cold January morning, Kusmariya told reporters, “We are warriors and will not throw down arms and surrender.”
Ramkrishna Kusmariya comes from an agrarian family and contested assembly elections in 1977 from Hata assembly seat as Janata Party candidate. He again contested from the same seat in 1985 and 1990 as BJP candidate and won both times. He was then fielded by BJP for Lok Sabha in 1991, 1996, 1998, 1999 from Damoh Parliamentary constituency. In 2004, he was fielded from Khajuraho and went to Lok Sabha for a fifth term.
In 2008, he contested from Pathariya assembly seat and won thereafter becoming the minister for agriculture in the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government. In 2013, he lost the seat in the assembly polls and not given a ticket for Lok Sabha.
TOI repeatedly tried to talk to Ramkrishna Kusmariya but he did not take the call.
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