By L.S. Herdenia
BHOPAL: Perhaps with remarkable confidence and ruling out any state wide collective revolt, the ruling BJP released its first list of candidates, leaving Congress far behind. The party denied tickets to 38 sitting MLAs, including three ministers. This means the party will have fresh faces in almost one-third of the constituencies. The BJP has an advantage that it is not divided into factions led by important leaders as is the case with Congress. Analysis of the list indicates that the list by and large has the stamp of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
The list was released in New Delhi by Union minister JP Nadda, who is also secretary of the BJPs central election committee. The party has announced candidates for 177 of the 230 constituencies in the state. The candidates for the remaining 53 constituencies will be announced later. The BJP had won 126 of these 177 constituencies in the 2013 Assembly elections.
The ministers who have been denied tickets include Maya Singh, minister for urban development and housing (Gwalior East), Gaurishankar Shejwar, minister for forests (Sanchi) and Harsh Singh, minister of state for water resources (Rampur Baghelan). Shejwar and Harsh Singh have been replaced with their sons. The denial of ticket to Maya Singh is intriguing, especially because she is related to the ex-royal family of Gwalior.
Among the ministers whose tickets have been withheld are Kusum Singh Mehdele, minister for public health engineering (Panna), Surya Prakash Meena, minister for horticulture (Shamshabad) and Sharad Jain, minister of state (independent charge) for medical education (Jabalpur East).
The BJP list also covers the constituencies of Bhopal. While four sitting MLAs from Bhopal have been given tickets, the fifth seat, which is represented by former chief minister Babulal Gaur, has been kept in abeyance. Though Gaur, a ten-term MLA, has announced his intention to contest despite being 88 years old, there is every possibility that he will be denied the 11th term. After his ouster from the cabinet he has been functioning like an opposition leader. He never missed any opportunity to pull up the government both inside and outside the Vidhan Sabha. Gaur is, however, hopeful that in case he is denied ticket the party may sponsor his daughter-in-law Krishna Gaur, former Mayor of Bhopal, who has been very active in BJP politics.
Similarly, the decision about some seats from Indore have been held because of intense rivalry between Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and Kailash Vijayvargiay, general secretary of the BJP, who happens to be a sitting MLA from Indore district.
It may be mentioned here that along with Babulal Gaur, the only Sikh MLA Sartaj Singh was also asked to quit the ministry. Despite being over 75, he too is ready to contest the Vidhan Sabha election. But there is little possibility of him getting a ticket. Some more ministers who have crossed 75 may also be denied tickets. After the announcement of tickets reports of mini revolts in some places have reached Bhopal. One such report came from Manasa in Neemuch district, where supporters of Kailash Chawla protested over the party’s decision to field Madhav Maru from Manasa.
Earlier in 2013 Maru contested from the same seat as an Independent candidate and fetched about 30,000 votes. He stood third in terms of votes.
As soon as the first list of candidates was announced Maru’s supporters (who were expecting on the same lines) erupted in joy. On the other hand, upset over the party leadership’s decision, Chawla’s supporters started raising objection. They rushed to the party office in the village and demanded the party to revoke the decision. BJP Mandal president Ajay Tiwari admitted that party workers were upset with the decision and they raised their protest after the first list was announced.
The Party has given tickets to three such sitting MLAs who were elected as independents and later joined the BJP. Two Lok Sabha members also figure in the list. They are Manohar Utwal, who represents Shajapur Lok Sabha seat, and will now contest from Agar (SC) seat. Similarly Lok Sabha member from Khajoraho Nagendra Singh has been asked to contest from Nagod Assembly seat.
As usual there is no Muslim in the list and there is little hope of any Muslim finding place in the next list of 53 candidates.
Meanwhile, Congress suffered a major jolt when Premchand Guddu, a former MP, resigned from the party and joined the BJP. He left Congress after he came to know that he has been denied a ticket to contest from Ujjain. Guddu is regarded as a Digvijay Singh loyalist.
(IPA Service)
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