FLOOR-CROSSERS

The turncoats who clinched electoral wins after jumping ship and pledging new loyalties

RAHUL SINGH LODHI, 40

| BJP | Damoh, Madhya Pradesh

Just one switch shot till now makes him a near apprentice-but full of promise. From a family of feudatories in the outback, Lodhi won the Damoh assembly seat on a Congress ticket in 2018 against BJP veteran Jayant Malaiya. However, in 2020, he defected to the BJP and unsuccessfully contested a bypoll from the same seat in 2021. His defeat was rewarded with a Lok Sabha ticket: close ties with party veteran and caste-mate Prahlad Patel reportedly helped. Worthy of an alumnus of Christ Church Boys in Jabalpur-a nursery of bureaucrats and politicians for Mahakoshal and Bundelkhand.

NARAYANDAS AHIRWAR, 63

| SP | Jalaun (SC), UP

Usually, 'defectors' are spoken of in tones ranging from strong disparagement to mild amusementat best, conferred with a pragmatic tolerance of enlightened self-interest in politics. But Ahirwar's 2015 move to the SP, and his unseating of five-time BJP MP and Union minister Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma from a prize reserved constituency in Bundelkhand this time, also spoke of something more-primarily because of his political biography. As a twentysomething, Ahirwar was swept up into Kanshi Ram's DS4 movement, whence he became a founding member of the BSP in 1984. So if his departure was a sign of the attenuation of the BSP's Jatav core, Verma's loss became emblematic of even the nonJatavs deserting saffron.

BABU SINGH KUSHWAHA, 58

I SP | Jaunpur, UP

A key aide and minister under MayAk awati, Kushwaha was expelled from the BSP in 2011 due to his alleged role in a Rs 1,000 crore scam. After doing time in jail and a flirtation with the BJP, the Class XII pass founded the Jan Adhikar Party in 2016. As an SP man, he faced another convert, lassoed in from the Mumbai Congress. That Kripa Shankar Singh lost was a measure of Rajput ire at the BJP, subdued local don Dhananjay Singh being its symbol.