The declaration of BJP’s first list may have shook the confidence of Madhya Pradesh BJP leaders who are sure of getting tickets for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. It may have send a message to them that their names are “still under-consideration”! Shockingly, name of Lok Sabha speaker and eight-time MP from Indore, Sumitra Mahajan, whose ticket was believed to be certain, also did not figure in the list. On Holi day, the BJP released its first list of 184 candidates from 21 states and Union Territories.
The saffron party declared candidates from states neighboring Madhya Pradesh including Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharasthra and Chhatishgrah but not from MP, the state which gave BJP 27 out of 29 Members of Parliament in the last LS polls. A senior leader of state BJP wishing anonymity stated that the names of probables from MP have not finalized as yet due to rebellion against them.
“The party first want to pacify the rebels and then declare names of the candidates,” he added. Many sitting BJP MPs from the state are facing protests from party workers and Mahajan is no exception. Mahajan is facing rebel from a senior leader Satyanarayan Sattan who is claiming that she had not been in touch with party workers in the city and they were upset over this.
Mahajan, affectionately called tai (sister), has retained the seat since 1989 when she defeated former chief minister and senior Congressman Prakash Chandra Sethi in a giant-killing act by over 1.11 lakh votes. “If the party gives a ticket to Mahajan for the ninth time, I will be forced to think of contesting against her as an Independent candidate. Majority of the party workers are unhappy with her as she has not been in touch with them,” Sattan said.
He said BJP would be better off choosing general secretary Kailash Vijaywargiya, local MLAs Ramesh Mendola, Usha Thakur or city mayor Malini Gaud as its nominee for Indore. Though the BJP high command is unlikely to accept demand of Sattan but by not including name of Mahajan in the first list a signal was given to rebels that they would not be ignored. “Sattan is a seasoned leader of BJP. The party will first convince him and then declare Tai as candidate from Indore Lok Sabha seat,” a BJP functionary said.
POLL BYTES
- On Holi day, the BJP released its first list of 184 candidates from 21 states and Union Territories
- The saffron party declared candidates from states neighbouring Madhya Pradesh including Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharasthra and Chhatishgrah but not from MP, the state which gave BJP 27 out of 29 Members of Parliament in the last LS polls
- Mahajan is facing rebel from a senior leader Satyanarayan Sattan who is claiming that she had not been in touch with party workers in the city and they were upset over this.
- Mahajan, affectionately called tai (sister), has retained the seat since 1989 when she defeated former chief minister and senior Congressman Prakash Chandra Sethi in a giant-killing act by over 1.11 lakh votes.