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BHOPAL: BJP is pitting its heavyweights in the Madhya Pradesh assembly election as it battles anti-incumbency and a resurgent Congress. As many as six MPs, including three Union ministers, figure in the second list of 39 released on Monday night, a few hours after PM Modi’s rally in Bhopal.
Congress was quick to call it a sign of BJP’s desperation, saying it indicates the party knows it’s going to lose the election.
The three Union ministers are Narendra Singh Tomar (agriculture), who also heads the BJP state election management committee, Prahlad Singh Patel (MoS food processing and jal shakti) and Faggan Singh Kulaste (MoS steel and rural development). Three Lok Sabha MPs — Rakesh Singh, a former state BJP chief, Ganesh Singh and Riti Pathak — will also contest the assembly elections due in November.
BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya is also being fielded.
This list includes at least four names who have at some time or other been seen as potential CM faces. If BJP wins, the top post is likely to have multiple contenders. Since 2008, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has been the only face of the BJP government and organisation.
Tomar has been fielded from Dimni assembly seat in Morena district. A state BJP chief for two terms and thrice MP from Gwalior and Morena Lok Sabha seats, Tomar is one of the heavyweights of the Modi government since 2014, holding important portfolios like rural development and panchayati raj, mines, steel, housing and urban affairs, agriculture and farmers’ welfare. He was also a cabinet minister in the state government from 2003 to 2008.
Prahlad Singh Patel, who is the MP from Damoh, will contest the assembly poll from Narsinghpur, presently represented by his brother and two-time MLA Jalem Singh Patel. Prahlad has won LS polls five times from Balaghat and Damoh. In 2004, he was fielded against Congress stalwart Kamal Nath in Chhindwara LS seat, which he lost by 63,708 votes.
Kulaste, a six-time MP from Mandla, has been fielded from the Niwas tribal reserved seat. He is considered BJP’s most prominent tribal face in MP.
Congress was quick to call it a sign of BJP’s desperation, saying it indicates the party knows it’s going to lose the election.
The three Union ministers are Narendra Singh Tomar (agriculture), who also heads the BJP state election management committee, Prahlad Singh Patel (MoS food processing and jal shakti) and Faggan Singh Kulaste (MoS steel and rural development). Three Lok Sabha MPs — Rakesh Singh, a former state BJP chief, Ganesh Singh and Riti Pathak — will also contest the assembly elections due in November.
BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya is also being fielded.
This list includes at least four names who have at some time or other been seen as potential CM faces. If BJP wins, the top post is likely to have multiple contenders. Since 2008, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has been the only face of the BJP government and organisation.
Tomar has been fielded from Dimni assembly seat in Morena district. A state BJP chief for two terms and thrice MP from Gwalior and Morena Lok Sabha seats, Tomar is one of the heavyweights of the Modi government since 2014, holding important portfolios like rural development and panchayati raj, mines, steel, housing and urban affairs, agriculture and farmers’ welfare. He was also a cabinet minister in the state government from 2003 to 2008.
Prahlad Singh Patel, who is the MP from Damoh, will contest the assembly poll from Narsinghpur, presently represented by his brother and two-time MLA Jalem Singh Patel. Prahlad has won LS polls five times from Balaghat and Damoh. In 2004, he was fielded against Congress stalwart Kamal Nath in Chhindwara LS seat, which he lost by 63,708 votes.
Kulaste, a six-time MP from Mandla, has been fielded from the Niwas tribal reserved seat. He is considered BJP’s most prominent tribal face in MP.
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