New Delhi: Scores of Congress leaders crossed over to the BJP between 2014 and 2021—few to become chief ministers, others to secure cabinet berths, and some to find themselves pushed to the margins after the switch.
For many, entry into the BJP brought immediate rewards: cabinet posts, Rajya Sabha seats, organisational roles or electoral tickets. But some also found themselves reduced to symbolic roles.
“Defections in Indian politics have increasingly become a function of power rather than ideology,” Chandrachur Singh, a political analyst and professor of political science at Delhi University, told ThePrint.
“Parties like the BJP tend to accommodate only those leaders who bring something substantial to the table—a social base, organisational network, regional influence or electoral utility. Those who merely add to the numbers are often sidelined once their immediate political utility fades.”
According to non-profit Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), Congress witnessed the highest number of defections between 2014 and 2021, losing 222 electoral candidates and 177 MPs/MLAs to other parties. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was the biggest beneficiary of all defections, with 253 candidates and 173 legislators or lawmakers joining it during the same period.
The scale of defections from the Congress was often sufficient to topple governments: 43 MLAs shifted to the BJP in Arunachal Pradesh in 2016, 35 crossed over in Gujarat in 2017, and 22 in Madhya Pradesh triggered the collapse of the Congress government in 2020
“Defections of legislators also reshaped political equations in Assam (15), Karnataka (13), Telangana (12), Uttarakhand (11) and Goa (8) and Manipur (8) during the 2014 to 2021 period, the ADR analysis found.
There were prominent defections beyond the Congress, too—Suvendu Adhikari from the Trinamool Congress and Samrat Choudhary from the RJD/JD(U)—but it was still the party that lost the most.
“The Congress, more than other parties, has become vulnerable to defections because it remains a large pan-India party with a weakened organisational structure. Unlike regional parties, which are usually more tightly controlled, the Congress has created wider spaces for drift and dissatisfaction as many leaders no longer see it as an effective vehicle for influence, patronage or political advancement,” Singh said.
Senior Congress leader and former Chhattisgarh deputy chief minister T.S. Singh Deo pointed to a more coercive dynamic. “There is too much pressure from the ED and CBI. Some may leave for short-term gains, but many switch because the pressure becomes unbearable,” he told ThePrint.
A former chief minister who spoke on condition of anonymity described the defections as the result of a party that has grown inaccessible to its own.
“It has become increasingly difficult to meet (Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha) Rahul Gandhi. Even veterans struggle to get access, so one can imagine the situation for younger leaders. Many feel their voices go unheard. Some leave because of that frustration, while others get drawn by the power and opportunities the BJP offers. After all, they have all the money and resources,” the former CM said.
Asked about the defections, BJP spokesperson Ajay Alok told ThePrint the “biggest factor” for the party’s rise and the “Congress’s decline” was “leadership”.
“A strong leadership makes a party decisive and gives confidence to its workers. Over the last two decades, Congress’s leadership has been its weakest link, creating dissatisfaction, while Narendra Modi’s leadership has given the BJP momentum, stability and sustained public trust,” he said.
The winners
The most unambiguous gains came to those who brought entire legislative wings with them—and were rewarded with executive power.
Himanta Biswa Sarma, a senior Congress cabinet minister in Assam during the later years of Tarun Gogoi’s tenure in 2011-2015, is now one of BJP’s most influential chief ministers. He won two consecutive terms and defeated Gogoi’s son, Gaurav Gogoi, in the recently concluded Assam assembly elections.
Then there was Pema Khandu, who retained the Arunachal Pradesh chief ministership after leading 43 Congress MLAs over to the BJP in 2016.
N. Biren Singh and Manik Saha also rose to chief ministerial positions after crossing over; Biren Singh was Manipur CM till last year and Saha is the incumbent in Tripura.
Further, Jyotiraditya Scindia’s 2020 rebellion—in which 22 Congress MLAs defected, bringing down the Kamal Nath-led Madhya Pradesh government—earned him a Union cabinet berth. Scindia is now the Union Minister for Communications and Development of North Eastern Region.
But Scindia, considered among the Congress’s most influential young national leaders, never became a chief minister, and analysts say he doesn’t hold the same stature within the BJP’s ranks.
Of this rebellion’s immediate beneficiaries, Govind Singh Rajput (revenue and transport minister, 2020–2023), Tulsi Silawat (water resources minister, 2020 onwards) and Pradhuman Singh Tomar (energy minister, 2020 onwards) were rewarded with state cabinet positions.
Others who joined the BJP in the 2020 rebellion and were later rewarded with ministerial or senior organisational roles include Prabhuram Choudhary (health minister, 2020–2023) and Aidal Singh Kansana (minister in the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government, 2020 onwards).
Other notable gainers included Jitin Prasada, who moved from the Congress’s Group of 23 dissent group to becoming a Union minister of state in 2021; and Ravneet Singh Bittu—a Congress MP from Punjab, one of its prominent Sikh faces, and the grandson of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh—who secured a Union minister of state berth after joining the BJP in 2024. He was labelled a “traitor” by Rahul Gandhi in Parliament earlier this year.
Jagdambika Pal, a former state minister who joined the BJP in 2014, became a multiple-term Lok Sabha MP and was appointed chairperson of the joint parliamentary committee on the Waqf Amendment Bill.
Sunil Jakhar, a former Punjab Congress chief and Lok Sabha MP who had no major position when he quit in 2022, was elevated as president of the BJP’s Punjab unit and emerged as one of its key faces in the state in 2023. He was replaced as the party’s state unit chief this week.
Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, who was Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly before quitting in 2019 following a dispute over seat-sharing involving his son Sujay, is now a senior cabinet minister in the state handling the water resources portfolio. His son Sujay was an MP from Ahmednagar.
Ramesh Jarkiholi, a former Congress minister who played a central role in the 2019 Karnataka defections that toppled the then Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) government, was rewarded with a state cabinet berth and remains an MLA and an influential BJP leader in the state.
Digambar Kamat, a former Congress chief minister of Goa who had spent years in opposition and lost much of his standing within the party, was accommodated as a state minister after joining the BJP in 2022—a personal gain, though analysts believe he no longer commands the influence he once had.
Dilip Ray, a former Congress leader from Odisha, was given a Rajya Sabha seat by the BJP this year.
In several of these cases, the anti-defection law proved ineffective. MLAs resigned before disqualification proceedings could begin, decisions by Speakers were delayed, or merger provisions were used to bypass the law. Despite legal challenges, most defections went through.
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The losers
For another cohort, the shift to BJP brought little reward or was followed by swift marginalisation.
Former CMs—Vijay Bahuguna of Uttarakhand and Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy of Andhra Pradesh—hold little political relevance today, despite switching sides.
Bahuguna, once among the Congress’ tallest leaders in Uttarakhand, has been largely confined to the BJP’s national executive without any significant electoral or organisational role.
Ashok Chavan, once among the Congress’s most prominent leaders in Maharashtra, joined the BJP in 2024 and was accommodated in the Rajya Sabha but has lost much of the clout he once commanded, analysts say.
Captain Amarinder Singh, a two-time Punjab chief minister, quit the Congress in 2022 following a bitter fallout with the party leadership. He launched his own party, merged it with the BJP in 2022, and has since largely disappeared from Punjab’s active political landscape. His wife Preneet Kaur, a former Union minister and Congress MP from Punjab who also joined the BJP in 2024, has been given no major organisational or electoral role.
Suresh Pachouri, a former Union minister once considered close to the party high command, had already been sidelined within the Congress when he quit in 2024, but has since found no meaningful platform in the BJP.
Ramnivas Rawat, a former Madhya Pradesh minister who switched sides in 2024, currently holds no significant party role. Kripashankar Singh, a former Maharashtra minister who joined the BJP in 2019, was given the largely symbolic position of state vice-president.
The pattern is sharpest among those who defected during legislative crises and did not find greener pastures after the switch. In Madhya Pradesh, leaders such as Mahendra Singh Sisodia, Imarti Devi, Girraj Dandotiya, Raghuraj Singh Kansana and Kamlesh Jatav either lost elections or were left without significant ministerial or organisational roles after helping bring down the Congress government in 2020.
In Karnataka, B.C. Patil, Anand Singh, Narayan Gowda and Roshan Baig gradually faded from prominence after helping topple the Congress-JD(S) government in 2019.
In Goa, Chandrakant Kavlekar, Jennifer Monserrate and Clafasio Dias hold little real influence within the BJP despite having been instrumental in weakening the Congress in 2019.
Among national-level figures, Tom Vadakkan—once among the Congress’s most visible spokespersons and close to 10 Janpath—joined the BJP in 2019 but is now confined to spokesperson duties.
Anil Antony, son of former defence minister A.K. Antony, quit the Congress in 2023 while heading its digital communications cell in Kerala and was appointed BJP national spokesperson and national secretary. Some within the Congress believe he had stronger long-term prospects in the party had he stayed on.
The in-betweens
Another group of defectors sits in a political grey zone—neither dramatically empowered nor visibly diminished by the switch.
Rao Inderjit Singh of Haryana continued as an MP and Union minister of state, broadly retaining the standing he held in the Congress, where he had served as chief whip in the Rajya Sabha. Naveen Jindal, the industrialist-politician, remained an MP with little visible expansion in political role.
Gourav Vallabh moved from being a Congress spokesperson to a similar media-facing role in the BJP. Hardik Patel, once the Congress’s working president in Gujarat and one of its most visible young OBC faces, is now a BJP MLA but holds no major organisational or ministerial responsibility.
In Madhya Pradesh, Bisahulal Singh remained an MLA and state executive member; Manoj Choudhary continued mainly as an MLA without any significant rise in influence.
Karnataka’s Munirathna, Dr K. Gopalaiah and Byrathi Basavaraj retained their legislative relevance after the 2019 defections without emerging as major power centres within the BJP.
In Goa, Michael Lobo, Delilah Lobo, Rajesh Phaldesai and Aleixo Sequeira continued as MLAs without any meaningful rise in stature.
And in Gujarat, Alpesh Thakor and C.J. Chavda largely retained the same level of relevance they had held in the Congress. Konda Vishweshwar Reddy, Aditi Singh, Raj Kumar Chauhan and Neeraj Basoya remain politically active and electorally relevant but without any substantial rise in organisational influence or national prominence.
The ones who came back
A small number of defectors eventually found their way back to the Congress.
In Haryana, former Congress chief and MP Ashok Tanwar rejoined after a brief stint. In Madhya Pradesh, Baijnath Singh Yadav—who had been close to Scindia during the 2020 rebellion—also returned.
In Delhi, former MLAs Amrish Singh Gautam and Bhisham Sharma rejoined ahead of Assembly elections. In Punjab, Balwinder Singh Laddi returned to the Congress just days after joining the BJP—among the more emphatic statements available about the arithmetic of defection.
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People should never vote for such defectors, be them from any party.