Former BJP, BSP men among 15 Congress candidates for Madhya Pradesh bypoll

New Delhi: Departing from its traditional of announcing party candidates just before the close of nominations, the AICC on Friday named the first lot of 15 candidates, including some former BJP-BSP leaders who are known rivals of Jyotiraditya Scindia, for the Assembly by-elections in Madhya Pradesh.
This early announcement, even without waiting for the Election Commission to announce the poll schedule, came after PCC chief Kamal Nath and senior leader Digvijaya Singh pushed for the state party and nominees hitting the electoral field well in advance.

Notable among the Congress nominees include Ex-MP Premchand Guddu- (Sanwer- SC seat ), who returned to the Congress from BJP after his rival Jyotiraditya Scindia joined the saffron party, three Ex-BSP leaders -- Phul Singh Baraiya (Bhander SC), a Kashi Ram associate and former State BSP chief known for his rivalry with Scindia, Satyaprakash Shekarwar ( Ambah - SC ) and Pragilal Jatav ( Karera – SC) – and Sunil Sharma (Gwalior), a former BJP councillor.

Madhya Pradesh political circles see in the Congress list many entrenched supporters of senior leader Digvijaya Singh, who has clearly started targeting Scindia’s Gwalior-Chambal belt since the latter’s defection to BJP.

The 27 by-elections due in MP -- necessitated by the resignations of 22 pro-Scindia sitting Congress MLAs this March bringing down the Kamal Nath government, subsequent resignations of three more Congress MLAs and due to the death of two sitting legislators – is a crucial fight for the state BJP government to attain majority in the Assembly.

Others in the list include Congress old-timers Ravindra Singh Tomar (Dimani ), Mevaram Jatav ( Gohad - SC ), Sunil Suresh Raje ( Dabra- SC ) Kanhaiyalal Agarwal ( Bamori ), Asha Dohre (Ashok Nagar - SC), Vishwanath Singh Kunjam- (Annupur- ST ), Madanlal Choudhary Ahirwar (Sanchi - SC), Vipin Wankhede (Agar- SC ), Rajveer Singh Baghel (Hatpipliya) and Ram Kishan Patel ( Nepanagar- ST ).