Madhya Pradesh: Rebellion within BJP after ticket distribution

Nothing is going well for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Madhya Pradesh and rebellion has erupted within the party after the declaration of two lists.

The BJP has released its list of 194 candidates for the upcoming November 28 assembly polls.

Former chief minister and MLA Babulal Gaur and his daughter-in-law threatened to contest as independent candidates from Bhopal’s Govindpura constituency, if the party denied them tickets. The BJP is planning to drop Gaur.

In a major blow to BJP, Chief Minister Chouhan’s brother-in-law Sanjay Singh Masani switched to Congress on Saturday, November 3, in Delhi saying “Kamal Nath is my leader and the era of Shivraj Singh is over in Madhya Pradesh’’. Later, he lambasted the Chouhan government on a slew of issues.

Masani's switch is of psychological and sentimental importance to the Congress poll campaign. The defection of Sanjay Sharma Masani, a sitting BJP MLA, to the Congress has dealt a big blow to the ruling dispensation in Mahakaushal region. Masani, a powerful leader from Narsinghpur, has represented the Tendukheda constituency twice.

Earlier, Kamlapat Arya, a Dalit BJP leader from Chambal, Padma Shukla from Katni and many others surprised BJP by defecting to Congress.

Shukla and Sanjay Sharma have also been given tickets by the Congress.

The tensions within the BJP are at its breaking point in the Bhopal region of 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 a protest against the BJP’s decision to not give him a ticket from the central Bhopal constituency that he represented five years ago.

In Bundelkhand's Tikamgarh region, BJP's sitting MLA KK Srivastava 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 the Badamalehra constituency, which was once represented by Uma Bharti, expressed their unhappiness about an outsider candidate standing for the election.

The women and youth wing of the BJP are highly disappointed with the party because they are being overlooked in the election season.

Justifying anti-incumbency against the legislatures, the BJP has dropped 34 sitting MLA’s names, including three ministers, Urban Development Minister Maya Singh, Forest Minister Gaurishankar Shejwar and Jail Minister Kusum Mehdele.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will contest from the Budhni constituency in Sehore district, which he has been representing since 2005. Along with Chouhan, top leaders like Narottam Mishra, Yashodhara Raje Scindia and others are also on the first list of candidates.

From the list of the 194 candidates, 16 of them are women candidates. The party has repeated 22 MLAs who lost the 2013 election.

The rebels within the BJP are increasing with each passing day, though, the party is yet to declare the names of the the candidates for the remaining 36 seats.

Owing to the revolt, the security of the Chief Minister’s house and the BJP head office have been beefed up.

The BJP has been in power since 2003 in Madhya Pradesh and Shivraj Singh Chouhan has been the chief minister from November 2005.