Ujjain: First list of Congress party candidates for 155 assembly seats of MP released on late Saturday clearly reflects the reported rift prevailing between Kamalnath-Digvijaya Singh and Jyotiraditya Scindia camps. Party declared only 15 candidates out of 29 seats of Ujjain division and put 14 seats on hold. It seems that Kamalnath-Digvijaya Singh camp has managed to get highest tickets for their loyalists.
Known faces as they are, although they lost 2013 elections, have been found fit for this election as well. No woman candidate has been given ticket. Party’s lone MLA in the division- Harrdeep Singh Dang has retained ticket from Suwasra. Out of two seats of Agar-Malwa district, the Congress has announced candidates for both seats. They include Mahendra Singh Parihar from Susner and Vipin Vankhede from Agar-SC. Both of them are new and young faces. Vankhede had earlier worked as NSUI president, though he an outsider as he lives in Indore. Both of them are reported to be close confidants of Kamalnath-Digvijaya Singh.
Out of three seats of Shajapur district, Shujalpur seat has been put on hold whereas Kamalnath-Digvijaya Singh’s loyalists Hukam Singh Karada (former minister) and Kunal Choudhari (State Youth Congress president) have been tipped from Shajapur and Kalapipal, respectively. It will be maiden election of Choudhari.
From Dewas district 2 seats Hatpipliya and Khategaon have been put on hold whereas names of Sajjan Singh Verma (former minister), Jai Singh Thakur (who lost in 2008 election) and Kamal Singh Vaskale (new face) have been cleared from rest three seats viz Sonkutch-SC, Dewas and Bagali-ST seats, respectively.
All of them are staunch supporters of Kamalnath-Digvijaya Singh. Out of 7 seats of Ujjain district, 4 seats have been cleared and Dilip Singh Gurjar (ex-MLA), Mahesh Parmar (zila panchayat president), Ramlal Malviya (ex-MLA) and Murli Morwal (lost in 2008 election) have been cleared from Nagda-Khachrod, Tarana-SC, Ghattiya-SC and Barnagar, respectively. All of them are known supporters of Kamalnath-Digvijaya Singh.
Three seats: Ujjain North, Ujjain South and Mahidpur have been put on hold. Names of Rajendra Bharti, Maya Trivedi and Vivek Yadav are in race from Ujjain North. Scindia wants ticket for Bharti at any cost. Names of Rajendra Vasishtha, Chetan Yadav and Jai Singh Darbar are in race from Ujjain South. According to sources Digvijaya Singh wants ticket for Vasishtha at any cost. Names of Sardar Singh Chouhan and Dinesh Jain Boss are in race from Mahidpur. Both camps are vying hard for their supporters from this seat.
Out of 5 seats of Ratlam district two seats: Ratlam City and Alot-SC have been put on hold while names of candidates of Laxman Singh Dindor from Ratlam Rural-ST, Harsh Vijay Gehlot from Sailana-ST and KK Singh Kalukheda from Jaora have been cleared.
Kalukheda is the younger brother of ex-minister late Mahendra Singh who was main flag-bearer of Scindia. Gehlot is son of ex-minister Prabhudayal Gehlot. Dindor and Gehlot are new and young faces and belong to –Kamalnath-Digvijaya Singh camp.
Out of four seats of Mandsaur district, only one seat has been cleared and sitting MLA Hardeep Singh Dang has been re-fielded from Suwasra. He belongs to Minakshi Natrajan (former MP) camp. Announcement on rest of the seats: Mandsaur, Malhargarh-SC and Garoth have been put on hold as Natrajan, Digvijaya Singh and Scindia are reportedly lobbying hard for their loyalists. Declaration of candidates on all three seats of Neemuch district: Manasa, Neemuch and Javad have been put on hold due to similar reasons. Party sources informed that announcement on the said 14 withhold seats may be made on November 6 or 8.