Rebels are giving a tough time to the ruling BJP in Madhya Pradesh as former chief minister and two-times BJP MLA Babulal Gaur and his daughter-in-law threatened to contest as independent candidates from Bhopal if denied tickets. The BJP is planning to drop Gaur.
Octogenarian Gaur's threat follows the defection of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's brother-in-law, Sanjay Masani, to the Congress. Masani, in a first for Chouhan's family and Madhya Pradesh BJP, switched sides to Congress saying, “Kamal Nath is my leader and the era of Shivraj Singh is over in Madhya Pradesh’’.
While Masani's switch has a psychological and sentimental importance in the poll campaign, the defection of Sanjay Sharma, a sitting BJP MLA, to the Congress has dealt a big blow to the ruling dispensation in Mahakaushal region. Sharma, a powerful leader from Narsinghpur, has represented Tendukheda constituency twice.
Earlier, Kamlapat Arya—a dalit BJP leader from Chambal, Padma Shukla from Katni and many others surprised the BJP by defecting to Congress. Shukla and Sanjay Sharma have also been given tickets by the Congress.
The Congress and the BJP both have declared nearly 170 candidates each as the last date for nomination is fast-approaching on November 9. Compared to the Congress party's list, the initial reaction to the BJP's list was not positive from political observers, including from party stalwarts. And now, the number of people rebelling against the BJP speaks volumes about the rebellion within the party.
On the contrary, the Congress party, which is known for its infighting has surprisingly been able to keep its flock together, except for sporadic incidents of rebellion.
The tensions within the BJP are at its zenith in Bhopal region in Seoni-Malwa where veteran leader Sartaj Singh expressed his displeasure for not being given a party ticket. Sartaj was dropped from the state cabinet last year. Similarly, in Bhopal, Dhruv Narayan Singh, another senior leader of the BJP, openly organised protest against the BJP’s decision to not give him ticket from central Bhopal constituency that he represented five years back.
In Bundelkhand's Tikamgarh, BJP's sitting MLA K.K. Srivastava openly accused a senior party leader of taking money from the new candidate, while in neighbouring Prithvipur and Jatara, leaders expressed dissent openly in front of the media.
In Chhatarpur, too, leaders from Badamalehra constituency, once represented by Uma Bharti, expressed unhappiness about an outsider candidate.
Indore, the biggest city of MP, also has its share of tensions. Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, who also represents Indore, expressed displeasure over the choice of party candidates. Though the BJP is yet to announce candidates in Indore, her displeasure forced another Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar to rush to the city by a special aircraft on Monday to pacify her.
