Bhopal: In their electoral arithmetic for Madhya Pradesh, they have not factored in one thing: rebellion. And of the two major parties — the Congress and the BJP – it is hurting more “the party with a difference”. The problem is proving a big headache for the two rival parties, especially the saffron brigade. In assembly elections last year, the magnitude of problem rattled then ruling BJP and some veteran party leaders fought polls as independents, hitting the prospects of BJP candidates.
Alarmed by bickering and opposition to some names, leaders are trying to quell it by employing persuasive skills. However in some cases, aspiring candidates are still adamant and would not mind ditching their party in case of denial of tickets to them.
In tribal-dominated Shahdol constituency, sitting BJP member of Parliament Gyan Singh on Monday gave the shock to the party by announcing to contest election as independent candidate. The trouble arose after the BJP announced Himadri Singh, daughter of Congress leader and former Union minister Balbir Singh, as the party candidate. Himadri, who switched allegiance to the BJP, had contested bypoll for the seat three years ago on Congress ticket.
Hoping a repeat performance, the BJP managed to get Himadri to its side as it will be loath to lose the seat that remained with it since 1998. BJP's election affairs in-charge for the state Swatantra Dev, a confidant of UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath, visited the area twice in a month’s time to iron out problems only goes to show the importance it has in saffron scheme of things.
In Balaghat, a reserved seat for tribals, from 1998 onwards sitting BJP MP Bodhsingh Bhagat’s supporters added to the party's trouble by opening a front against party candidate Dhal Singh Bisen. Feeling ignored over the denial of ticket, Bhagat supporters created a ruckus two days ago. After some time, an “enterprising” worker locked the gate of the party office in the district. In the commotion, former minister Gaurishankar Bisen and his supporters broke the lock, enabling the party candidate to enter the party office. Ultimately, police had to step in to control the situation. When asked, party office-bearers sought to play down the issue. Sources say a former minister is engineering trouble as his daughter was denied the ticket.
In backward Tikamgarh district of Bundelkhand, the sentiment is against both candidates at this reserved seat. According to political analysts, voters feel the BJP and the Congress have thrust their choice on them. “It would have been a lot better if Congress fielded Arvind Kumar Khatik,” a source from the region said. However, of late, party workers have sort of reconciled to sitting MP and Union minister Virendra Khatik’s candidature. In case of Congress candidate Kiran Ahirwar, the sentiment against her looks more pronounced. In fact both parties had to face the embarrassment of anti-party candidate slogan covering many walls in district headquarters of Tikamgarh.
In Rajgarh constituency, twice represented by Congress biggie Digvijaya Singh in the past, opposition to the name of Roadmal Nagar is proving a pain in the neck for the BJP.
In neighbouring Khajurao seat, Congress candidate Kavita Singh, a member of Chhatarpur royal family, is facing opposition from within the party. In the past, BJP firebrand leader Uma Bharati contested and won the seat for four times from 1989 before contesting election from Bhopal seat in 1999.
In Mandsaur, which remained BJP bastion for decades, opposition to sitting MP and party candidate Sudhir Gupta may impact the result where Meenakashi Natrajan, a trusted leader of Congress central leadership and Rahul Gandhi, is contesting for the third time. It was Natrajan who breached the impregnable fort of BJP by defeating Dr Lasminarayan Pandey. Dr Pandey had won the seat for consecutive five terms from 1991. If the opposition to Gupta continues, Natrajan, who faced severe drubbing in 2014, losing the seat by more than 3 lakh votes would be in a position to avenge her defeat.
Sources say the Congress leadership has made up its mind on remaining 20 seats out of the total 29. It had released the first list of nine candidates earlier.