Facing the challenge of rebels in several seats, the BJP and the Congress found some respite with some taking back their names on Thursday, the last day to withdraw the nominations for the November 17 Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections.
Among the prominent leaders who withdrew their candidatures on Wednesday and Thursday are: Congress rebel in Bhopal’s Huzur seat, former MLA Jeetendra Daga; Congress rebel and former MLA from Jhabua seat Javier Meda; BJP rebel in Jabalpur (north-central) seat, Kamlesh Agrawal; and BJP rebel from Ratlam district’s A lot seat, Ramesh Malviya.
Mr. Daga, considered a heavyweight in the seat, took back his nomination shortly after Congress candidate Naresh Gyanchandani paid him a visit on Wednesday. A video of Mr. Gyanchandani touching Mr. Daga’s feet also surfaced on social media. As per local reports, Mr. Gyanchandani also took the disgruntled leader to meet PCC chief Kamal Nath and former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh.
Earlier in the day, the BJP candidate and sitting MLA Rameshwar Sharma had also met Mr. Daga, who had quit the saffron party in 2019.
Mr. Meda had entered the poll fray as an independent after the party denied him a ticket and fielded senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Kantilal Bhuria’s son Vikrant Bhuria. Mr. Meda had also fought the 2018 election and had secured more than 35,000 votes, causing a blow to Vikrant who lost to BJP candidate Guman Singh Damor by about 10,000 votes.
Senior leaders of the BJP and the Congress, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Mr. Nath and Mr. Digvijaya Singh have held a number of meetings with upset leaders to pacify them and bring them back into the party fold. Mr. Shah, during his recent three-day visit to the State, had held meetings with the rebels and upset leaders of all 10 divisions of Madhya Pradesh.
Kamal Nath confident
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Mr. Nath said he and other senior leaders were in touch with the rebels and that he was confident that they would all support the Congress.
Mr. Agrawal, the sitting leader of the opposition in the Jabalpur Municipal Corporation, had entered the poll fray after resigning from the party soon after Mr. Shah’s meeting in Jabalpur. The BJP has had to face significant resentment in the seat after fielding former State president of Yuva Morcha Abhilash Pandey, with several party workers also protesting in front of Union Minister Bhupender Yadav on the day the ticket was announced.
Mr. Agrawal, however, took back his name after the intervention of Mr. Chouhan.
However, the two parties continue to face the rebel challenge in nearly 30 seats each. At least five BJP and six Congress influential leaders are still in the poll fray as independents or on smaller parties’ tickets and looking to hamper the chances of the BJP and Congress candidates.
BJP rebel Harshwardhan Singh Chouhan, son of former MP and State BJP chief Nandkumar Singh Chouhan, is contesting from Burhanpur seat of Burhanpur district. Mr. Chouhan, upset over party ticket going to former State Minister Archana Chitnis, also resigned from the party’s primary membership on Thursday.
BJP rebel and former Tikamgarh MLA K. K. Shrivastav is still in the contest from the seat and is expected to dent the prospects of party candidate and sitting MLA Rakesh Giri.
Contesting as independents
In Bhopal Uttar (north) seat, two Congress rebels — Amir Aqeel, who is the brother of sitting MLA Arif Aqeel, and former Bhopal district Youth Congress president Nasir Islam — are contesting as independents and look to hurt the party’s chances in its bastion, which it has held since 1993.
Mr. Arif, who has been the MLA since 1998, is not contesting this time and the Congress has fielded his son Atif Aqeel from the constituency. Mr. Amir, who had been active in politics with his brother, and Mr. Islam, said to be close to Mr. Digvijaya Singh, quit the party to contest the polls. The BJP has fielded former city Mayor Alok Sharma in the seat.
Congress rebels and independent candidates — former MLA Shekhar Choudhary, who is contesting from Narsinghpur district’s Gotegaon seat, and former MLA Om Prakash Raghuvanshi, who is in the fray from Narmadapuram’s Seoni-Malwa seat — also did not take back their names on the last day.
