Bhopal, Jun 7 (IANS): The slogan 'Jai Shri Ram' is normally associated with the saffron camp. But on Tuesday evening, the same slogan reverberated in the headquarters of Madhya Pradesh Congress, with the saffron colour taking over the grand old party's head office here.
This happened after the workers of 'Bajrang Sena' reached the Congress headquarters in large numbers to extend their support to the party ahead of the Assembly elections scheduled to be held later this year.
Raghunandan Sharma, the national convenor of Bajrang Sena, along with his supporters joined the Congress in the presence of former Chief Minister and state Congress President Kamal Nath.
Speaking on the occasion, Kamal Nath began his speech with "Jai Sri Ram".
The veteran Congress leader, who claims to be a devotee of Lord Hanuman, said, "Bajrang Sena has decided to support the Congress, which means they are supporting the truth. Madhya Pradesh has became a state of scams under the BJP, be it the Mahakal Lok or Naramada scam. We have to protect our culture."
Former state minister and ex-CM Kailash Joshi's son Deepak Joshi, who also recently jumped ship from the BJP to the Congress, accompanied the leaders of the Bajrang Sena.
Joshi, who has started camping in Budhni, the Assembly constituency of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Sehore district, said that Kamal Nath has done a lot of work for the protection of cows during his 15-month tenure as the Chief Minister.
"Kamal Nath has never done politics over religion like many of his contemporaries. He built a huge temple of Lord Hanuman in his home district of Chhindwara. When I spoke to the Bajrang Sena leaders about this, they immediately agreed to extend their support to Kamal Nath," Joshi said.
The Bajrang Sena, which raises social and religious issues, was formed by Ranveer Pateria in Chhatarpur district in 2013.
Talking to IANS later, Pateria said, "Bajrang Sena is not merging with the Congress. Some of our leaders have joined the Congress and they have resigned from Bajrang Sena. Ours is an issue-based support to the Congress."