BJP faces rebels in nearly 15 seats across Madhya Pradesh

The ruling BJP is facing a tough challenge in election-bound Madhya Pradesh, with rebel candidates in the fray in about 15 assembly constituencies.

The party rebels contesting as independents mostly include party bigwigs and sitting MLAs who were dropped this time. Ramkrishna Kusumariya, a five-time MP, is contesting as independent from Damoh against the official candidate Jayant Malaiya. Other constituencies where the party’s official candidate is being challenged by a rebel include Anuppur, Kotma and Pushprajgarh.

Some former BJP MLAs have also thrown their hats in the ring challenging the party’s official candidates. These include Narendra Singh Kushwaha in Bhind, Rajkumar Mev in Maheshwar and Brhmanand Ratnakar in Berasiya. Former BJP youth wing president Dheeraj Pateria quit the BJP last week after being denied a ticket. He is now pitted against health minister Sharad Jain in Jabalpur (North), making the already close contest triangular and giving the Congress a seemingly clear advantage. In some cases, the challenge to the official candidate has come from within the family. In Bargi in Jabalpur district, the sitting BJP MLA Pratibha Singh’s daughter-in-law has been fielded by the Samajwadi Party.


The BJP has initiated disciplinary proceedings against most rebels who are in the fray against the official party candidates. Many rebels have withdrawn their candidature but are still posing a threat to the official contenders. “For us, the challenge was not to make the rebels withdraw. The bigger fight is to ensure they do not work against the party candidates in the run-up to the elections,” said a senior leader.

The party has taken serious note of public statements made by disappointed ticket-seekers. “Two former MLAs have given statements despite withdrawing from the election. In Huzur seat in Bhopal the ticket-seeker withdrew but gave a statement that the official candidate would lose. This really harms our chances. These people are being spoken to by party seniors from Delhi,” said a local BJP functionary. Former finance minister Raghavji, 84, who had sought a ticket for his daughter Jyoti Shah from Shamshabad seat in Vidisha district, had filed his nomination but was made to withdraw. An upset Raghavji has also claimed that the official candidate would not win.