POLITICS
Rebellion in MP BJP after early poll list: 12 problem seats, Tomar to Scindia on damage-control duty
- Admin
- Aug 24, 2023
Rebellion in MP BJP after early poll list: 12 problem seats, Tomar to Scindia on damage-control duty
BJP released its first list of candidates for Madhya Pradesh earlier this month, covering 39 seats where it sees itself as weak. The party lost 38 of these in the 2018 election.
At a BJP meeting in Gwalior Sunday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah issued a strict warning against infighting ahead of the upcoming Madhya Pradesh assembly elections.
But the party’s first list of candidates — released earlier this month with an aim to get a headstart in the polls — has kicked up conflict in at least 12 seats, with multiple aspirants who have been denied tickets threatening to contest as Independents.
The candidates include 12 fresh faces. Sixteen 2018 candidates have been denied tickets, and the voices of rebellion are the loudest in this group.
The dissenters include BJP national secretary Om Prakash Dhurve, who has been fielded from Shahpura instead of Dindori, which he lost to the Congress by 34,000 votes in 2018.
Then there is Mamta Meena, who lost from Guna’s Chachoura seat to Congress candidate Laxman Singh — former CM Digvijaya Singh’s brother — in 2018.
In Dewas district’s Sonkatch, former candidate Rajendra Verma is displeased because he has reportedly been denied a ticket as part of a strategy to keep the field clear in another seat for a Congress rebel who joined the party as part of the Jyotiraditya Scindia rebellion in 2020.
Other areas of conflict include Maharajpur, Sagar, Banda, Jhabua, Lanhi and Sabalgarh.
Of the 39 seats in question, the BJP won 28 in 2013, while 11 went to the Congress. In 2008, it was 20 for the BJP and 18 for the Congress.
The announcement of candidates months before the election was a first for the BJP, and it was meant to give the nominees more time to campaign as well as check dissent in time.
Taking a cue from the 2022 Himachal Pradesh election, where the party did not succeed in containing the rebellion and ended up losing, the BJP pressed election management committee convenor Narendra Singh Tomar, Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, among others, to calm down rebel leaders.
Reached for comment, MP BJP general secretary Bhagwandas Sabnani said it was natural to express some discontent after ticket distribution.
“But the BJP is a party where we have a robust system of listening to workers’ complaints. Senior leaders… are in touch with those who have some complaints against the candidate. The party will convince them to ensure the party’s win as stated by the home minister in a recent meeting.”
The candidates include 12 fresh faces. Sixteen 2018 candidates have been denied tickets, and the voices of rebellion are the loudest in this group.
The dissenters include BJP national secretary Om Prakash Dhurve, who has been fielded from Shahpura instead of Dindori, which he lost to the Congress by 34,000 votes in 2018.
Then there is Mamta Meena, who lost from Guna’s Chachoura seat to Congress candidate Laxman Singh — former CM Digvijaya Singh’s brother — in 2018.
In Dewas district’s Sonkatch, former candidate Rajendra Verma is displeased because he has reportedly been denied a ticket as part of a strategy to keep the field clear in another seat for a Congress rebel who joined the party as part of the Jyotiraditya Scindia rebellion in 2020.
Other areas of conflict include Maharajpur, Sagar, Banda, Jhabua, Lanhi and Sabalgarh.
Of the 39 seats in question, the BJP won 28 in 2013, while 11 went to the Congress. In 2008, it was 20 for the BJP and 18 for the Congress.
The announcement of candidates months before the election was a first for the BJP, and it was meant to give the nominees more time to campaign as well as check dissent in time.
Taking a cue from the 2022 Himachal Pradesh election, where the party did not succeed in containing the rebellion and ended up losing, the BJP pressed election management committee convenor Narendra Singh Tomar, Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, among others, to calm down rebel leaders.
Reached for comment, MP BJP general secretary Bhagwandas Sabnani said it was natural to express some discontent after ticket distribution.
“But the BJP is a party where we have a robust system of listening to workers’ complaints. Senior leaders… are in touch with those who have some complaints against the candidate. The party will convince them to ensure the party’s win as stated by the home minister in a recent meeting.”
