As the prospect of a by-election in Madhya Pradesh’s Datia gathers momentum, the first significant political tremor has struck the Congress, with several of its workers purportedly among the 500 who joined the BJP this week in the presence of BJP leader and former minister Narottam Mishra.
The Congress, however, has accused the BJP of trying to pass off the latter’s own workers as Congress defectors, claiming that many of the 500 who purportedly crossed over were never with the Opposition party.
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Mishra, who was considered a future chief minister until his defeat in the 2023 Assembly elections, told The Indian Express that the Congress workers and leaders crossed over to the BJP “because they believe in development”.
The situation is politically significant not merely because of the number of defections being claimed by the BJP, but because it marks Mishra’s first visible attempt to reclaim political centrality in Datia after his electoral defeat. For nearly two decades, Mishra had dominated Datia politics, winning repeatedly and building one of the BJP’s most entrenched organisational structures in the Gwalior-Chambal belt. His defeat to Congress leader Rajendra Bharti in the 2023 Assembly election was widely seen as a symbolic setback for the BJP’s old guard.
Now, with Bharti disqualified and the constituency heading towards a bypoll, Mishra appears to have sensed an opening for a political comeback.
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District Congress president Ashok Dangi Bagda accused the BJP of staging a “show-off” exercise by presenting its own workers as Congress defectors.
On whether Mishra would contest the bypoll, he said, “The party decides who will contest.”
Leaders close to Mishra’s camp said the former Home minister splits his time between Bhopal, Dabra and Datia, where he takes marathon meetings with his workers. “He takes two five-hour meetings in which over 500 workers meet him. Everyone knows the ticket will come to Mishra, hence his meetings have gone through the roof,” said the leader.
The Congress has dismissed the BJP’s claims as manufactured optics. District Congress president Ashok Dangi Bagda accused the BJP of staging a “show-off” exercise by presenting its own workers as Congress defectors. Congress leaders publicly challenged the BJP to produce evidence that several of the individuals inducted into the BJP were ever active Congress members.
Yet the BJP’s strategy appears less about the precise arithmetic of defections and more about perception warfare before the by-election notification is even announced. Projecting the Congress as internally fractured and demoralised, leaders close to Mishra’s camp said, is helping them “seize the political narrative early”.
Bharti’s disqualification
The backdrop to the looming by-election is the criminal conviction that unseated Bharti from the Datia Assembly seat. Bharti was disqualified last month after being convicted and sentenced to three years in jail in a 27-year-old bank fraud case by a Delhi court. The conviction triggered provisions under the Representation of the People Act, resulting in the Assembly seat falling vacant.
The case has become politically explosive because Bharti had emerged as one of the few Congress leaders capable of defeating Mishra on his home turf. His victory in 2023 had disrupted the BJP’s long-standing hold over Datia and dented Mishra’s aura as an invincible regional strongman. Congress leaders have argued that the BJP moved swiftly to convert the disqualification into a political campaign even before judicial remedies are exhausted.
Also Read | How BJP is engineering the ‘great Congress exodus’ in Madhya Pradesh
Over a month on from his disqualification, district authorities initiated preparatory procedures for a bypoll, including first-level checking of EVMs and VVPAT machines, following communication from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer.
For Mishra, the Datia by-election represents more than a constituency battle. Since losing his seat, he has remained politically active, but without the administrative clout he once wielded as Home minister. Over the past two years, he has increasingly repositioned himself as a backroom strategist, organisational troubleshooter and Hindutva campaigner within the BJP.
Student leader to Home minister
For nearly two decades, Mishra has been among the BJP’s most combative and politically influential faces in Madhya Pradesh. A six-time MLA, Mishra rose through the ranks of the BJP’s student and youth ecosystem, beginning his political journey in the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha while studying at Jiwaji University in Gwalior, where he later completed a doctorate. He first entered the Assembly from Dabra in 1990 and gradually built a reputation as an aggressive ground-level political operator with strong cadre control in the Gwalior-Chambal region.
Within the BJP, Mishra evolved into much more than a regional satrap. By the time the 2020 Madhya Pradesh political crisis unfolded, he had become one of the party’s most trusted strategists in the state and was widely viewed as occupying a key role in political coordination, negotiations and managing the transition that returned the BJP to power. His proximity to senior BJP leadership, especially Union Home Minister Amit Shah, significantly enhanced his stature inside the party.
As Home minister in the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government, Mishra cultivated the image of a hardline administrator. He frequently made headlines for endorsing bulldozer action against accused persons in communal violence and high-profile criminal cases, projecting himself as a no-nonsense enforcer. Supporters viewed him as a leader who acted decisively and unapologetically, while critics accused him of encouraging extra-legal symbolism and polarising rhetoric. He repeatedly courted controversy over statements linked to communal tensions and cultural politics, particularly his warnings to filmmakers and advertisers accused of hurting Hindu sentiments.
Some of his most high-profile interventions involved films and advertisements. He threatened action against the Shah Rukh Khan-Deepika Padukone film Pathaan over the ‘Besharam Rang’ song, objecting to costumes and imagery he claimed offended Hindu sentiment. He also attacked the film ‘Adipurush’ over its depiction of characters from the Ramayana and criticised fashion designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee over an advertisement campaign. These interventions helped consolidate his image among sections of the BJP’s ideological base as a cultural warrior willing to publicly challenge Bollywood and advertising brands.