BJP big guns in MP poll race turn spoilsport for party's CM aspirants

BHOPAL: The BJP high command's decision to field all top leaders including Union ministers and MPs for state assembly elections, has come as a setback for CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who has been at the helm of affairs of the state for the last 18 years and party’s face. Besides Chouhan, the second rung leaders who were aspiring for chief ministership and nurturing their constituencies like home minister Narottam Mishra, BJP state president VD Sharma, urban administration minister Bhupendra Singh and PWD minister Gopal Bhargava, have also received a jolt.

A senior BJP leader, when asked whether the status of a Narottam Mishra or a VD Sharma, who were being considered a rival to CM Chouhan, has been diminished like any of their peers, said, “As far as their aspiration to become CM, anybody in politics may aspire to become anything and there is nothing wrong in it. Whether they deserve the post they are aspiring for or not is a different question. But the party takes decisions according to political circumstances and the challenges ahead. In 1980, when Sunderlal Patwa became the chief minister after Kailash Joshi and Virendra Sakhlecha, he was not a contender for the post. Similarly, in 2003 when Uma Bharti was declared the chief ministerial face of the party, she was junior to so many BJP leaders of the state- Patwa, Joshi, to Shejwar and Babulal Gaur, but the party leadership decided upon her name. I remember, in 1998, four yatras were taken out before the state assembly election led by Kailash Joshi, Sunderlal Patwa, Vikram Verma and Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Not all of them were contenders for the post of chief minister. It's something decided by the party leadership?”, he said.



Political analysts, on the other hand, suggest that none of the leaders referred to as potential challengers for Shivraj Singh Chouhan were serious contenders to the post of chief minister.

Veteran political analyst Girija Shankar, who has written several books on the electoral history of Madhya Pradesh, said, “'None of the leaders whom the media projected as contenders for the post of chief minister were “serious” contenders at all. You tell me, if they were capable, why would the party be “forced” to send a battery of central leaders to contest the state assembly election? They are from different regions of the state- Narottam Mishra from Chambal, Gopal Bhargava from Bundelkhand, V D Sharma contested and won the election from Khajuraho. Party would have reposed faith in them, but it didn't because in the eyes of the party leadership, they were never a serious rival of Shivraj, whom it could have trusted.



They are like other leaders, who regularly contest state assembly elections, win their seats more often than not and become ministers. As it is, “CM material” is rarely a leader who has been MLA 6-7 times, they are sent as CM candidate like Narendra Modi or Uma Bharti who had never been MLAs before they became the chief minister.

The BJP has so far not announced names on the seats where it has incumbent MLAs, I have a feeling that some of the ministers, who have won the election by slender margin and whose track record has not been outstanding may lose tickets.



Jairam Shukla, who also keeps a close watch on electoral history of Madhya Pradesh, said, “I don't know why media has not seen a parallel between what is happening in the BJP in this election and the Congress list of candidates for 1990 election, After Janata Party and Jan Morcha dislodged government at the Centre, in the 1990 election in MP all the party stalwarts from MP - Shyamcharan Shukla, Arjun Singh, Motilal Vora, Sriniwas Tiwari, K P Singh- were fielded in the state assembly election. The Congress lost the election though. As far as leaders, who were projected as arch rivals of Shivraj Singh Chouhan, none of them had any chance to succeed him as CM.”

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