BHOPAL: It’s not the opposition parties alone from which the BJP faces a challenge, but the threat of sabotage by its own cadres looms large on at least three of the six seats of Mahakaushal and Vindhya region that go to polls in the first phase in Madhya Pradesh on April 29.
Six seats, including Chhindwara, Mandla, Balaghat, Shahdol, Jabalpur and Sidhi go to polls on April 29. Out of these six seats, five seats (excluding Chhindwara) were won by BJP in 2014 polls by convincing margins, riding the Modi wave.
But five years later, things don’t look that rosy for the BJP, in the wake of dismal performance in the recent assembly polls as well as growing resentment among the saffron party’s cadres against their own candidates.
In Balaghat seat – which has been won five times since 1998 by the BJP -- the sitting MP of the party Bodh Singh Bhagat will contest as an independent after being denied ticket by the party. Despite efforts by top BJP leaders, including national party vice president Dr Prabhat Jha, former MP minister Dr Narottam Mishra and state general secretary (organization) Suhas Bhagat to convince Bhagat to withdraw his nomination papers, the sitting MP didn’t back out from the race on the last day for withdrawing nominations on Friday.
The Naxal affected Balaghat seat is known for bitter rivalry between two senior BJP leaders, the sitting MP Bodh Singh Bhagat and ex-MP minister and present BJP MLA from Balaghat seat Gourishankar Bisen, who had won the LS seat in 1998 and 2004.
Aiming to strike a balance between both the camps, the party had fielded ex-MLA Dal Singh Bisen from the seat, but with Bhagat not opting out of the race, BJP’s prospects of winning the seat for sixth straight time could be hit badly.
On the other hand, the Congress too doesn’t seem to be very comfortable, as its candidate and ex-MLA Madhu Bhagat is faced with the threat of ex-MP and SP-BSP candidate Kankar Munjare eating into the opposition votes, just like Munjare’s wife Anubha ate into the opposition votes in 2018 assembly polls, helping sitting BJP MLA and then MP agriculture minister Gourishankar Bisen to win by over 28,000 votes from Balaghat seat. Importantly, the Congress candidate in 2018 assembly polls from Balaghat assembly seat, Vishehwar Bhagat had finished third, largely owing to division of opposition votes.
In the adjoining Shahdol seat also, the young BJP candidate Himadri Singh faces tough challenge against Congress’ Pramilla Singh, particularly due to sitting BJP MP Gyan Singh having announced not to campaign for party candidate over denial of ticket to him. Himadri (the daughter of ex-Congress MP’s from the seat Dalbir Singh and Rajesh Nandini Singh) had lost to Gyan Singh in 2016 by-elections. She joined the BJP last month and was immediately rewarded with BJP ticket from Balaghat.
With Gyan Singh staying away from campaigning for Himadri, the BJP candidate’s poll prospects could be hurt in two assembly segments, Manpur and Bandhavgarh in Umaria district.
In the Sidhi seat (which has been won by BJP in 2009 and 2014), the sitting BJP MP Riti Pathak faces a formidable challenge against ex-MP minister and former CM Arjun Singh’s son Ajay Singh ‘Rahul,’ who is eyeing this election as a political lifeline, after losing in 2018 assembly polls from pocket-borough Churhat. Pathak is facing major resentment from party workers and leaders in Sidhi, Singrauli and Shahdol districts which form part of the LS seat.
Recently, ex-BJP MP Govind Prasad Mishra, who won the seat in 2009 and ended the dominance of Arjun Singh’s family on Churhat seat in 1993, quit the BJP over fielding of Pathak again from Sidhi LS seat.