Jolt to Congress as Madhya Pradesh’s first tribal mayor Vikram Ahake joins BJP

Vikram Ahake, Congress leader and Madhya Pradesh’s first tribal mayor from Chhindwara, quit the party and joined the BJP on Monday. A key loyalist of senior Congress leader Kamal Nath, Ahake’s name was suggested for the mayoral post by Nath in 2022 despite opposition from a section of the Chhindwara party unit.

However, Kamal Nath’s decision prevailed and Ahake became mayor at the same time Droupadi Murmu became India’s first tribal President.

Ahake’s elevation was seen as an attempt by the Congress to counter the BJP’s game plan of making inroads into the tribal community, which forms a significant chunk of the Congress’s voting base.

The latest development comes on the heels of tribal MLA and member of the erstwhile Harrai royal family Kamlesh Pratap Shah quitting the party over differences with Kamal Nath’s son and sitting MP Nakul Nath. The BJP has been weaning away Congress leaders in Chhindwara, claiming to break away more than 2,000 of them in the district in an attempt to win the lone seat that eluded them in the previous election.

Vikram Ahake, who hails from Rajakhoh Dana village in Chhindwara, has roots that are deeply embedded in the region’s tribal fabric. His mother Nirmala serves as an Anganwadi worker, while his father Naresh, a 55-year-old farmer, toils in their modest two-acre agricultural holding. As the sole male offspring, Ahake has shouldered the responsibility of assisting his father in the fields.

His political journey can be traced back to his college days in 2010 when he joined the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), the student wing of the Congress party. His active involvement in student politics earned him the trust of Kamal Nath when the former Union minister represented Chhindwara in the