BJP minister Kailash Vijayvargiya
Bhopal: A video of BJP minister Kailash Vijayvargiya's banter with his former political rival Sanjay Shukla during an event, where the latter joined the ruling saffron party here on Saturday, went viral on social media.
In the video, Vijayvargiya is seen jokingly saying that although he was verbally abused in the past by Shukla, who was with the Congress earlier, the latter is now being inducted into the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Several Congress leaders, including former Indore-1 MLA Shukla joined the BJP under the leadership of former Union minister Suresh Pachouri, in Bhopal on Saturday morning.
Shukla was the Congress candidate against Vijayvargiya, who is now a cabinet minister in Madhya Pradesh, from Indore-1 seat in the November 2023 elections.
In the fiercely-contested election, Vijayvargiya defeated Shukla, son of a senior BJP leader, by a margin of over 57,000 votes.
During his induction into the BJP this morning, Shukla touched the feet of Vijayvargiya. While offering a BJP scarf to Shukla, Vijayvargiya, said in a lighter vein, "You abused me and now we have to induct you into the party." His statement triggered a laughter.
Shukla's father, late Vishnu Shukla, was a senior BJP leader of Indore. Sanjay Shukla, however was a Congress leader and contested as its candidate in the 2018 assembly and emerged victorious.