Ex-Mayor shows BJP’s rebel trouble

Rebel Sameeksha Gupta, ex-BJP mayor of Gwalior challenging the three-term sitting MLA Narayan Singh Kushwah in Gwalior South constituency, has become the subject of discussions across the region. Belonging to a business family with long association with Jan Sangh, Gupta has set ripples in the party circles, prompting senior BJP leaders such as Narendra Singh Tomar and Prabhat Jhan to make failed attempts to persuade her to pull out of the race before expelling her.

Talking to ET, Gupta said during her term as mayor (2010-15) and after that she had been working for the BJP among the people and more recently has been concentrating on expanding the Modi government’s ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ programme.

“I am contesting as an independent candidate only because the people insist that they want a change here. Since the party didn’t heed to that, people are rallying behind me due to the dedicated developmental work I had done as mayor and also due to the social work I have been doing here since then,” she said.