Lok Sabha elections: Denied tickets, will BJP’s Anoop Mishra & Ashok Argal join Congress?

BHOPAL: After Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s niece Karuna Shukla in 2013, will it be his nephew Anoop Mishra quitting BJP ahead of the 2019

Lok Sabha

polls?

On Monday, there was intense speculation that Mishra, a minister in the Shivraj Singh Chouhan cabinet, may call it quits with BJP after being denied a ticket from Morena Lok Sabha seat. Five-time BJP MP Ashok Argal — mayor of Morena — could also quit the party ahead of LS polls.

Sources in the state Congress said some senior leaders of BJP are in contact with chief minister Kamal Nath and the AICC. “Discussions are taking place at AICC level. All we know is that disgruntled former BJP MPs are in touch with CM Kamal Nath and some of our leaders in New Delhi,” said a senior state Congress office-bearer.

Argal was elected to Parliament from Morena in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2004. Following delimitation, Bhind became an SC-reserved seat and Argal was moved from Morena. He won Bhind in 2009 and went to Lok Sabha for a fifth consecutive term. In 2014, however, he was dropped from BJP’s list of candidates. This time, too, the party fielded Sandhya Rai in Bhind, leaving Argal furious.

Speaking to TOI, Argal said, “In the BJP’s office, leaders don’t have a single minute to spare for party workers. BJP has deviated from the ideology of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay and I am extremely pained by it.” Asked if he plans to join Congress, Argal said, “Whatever action I take, only time will tell.” Argal’s father was a prominent SC leader and BJP parliamentarian.

Anoop Mishra was elected from Morena in 2014, but this time the party fielded Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar from the constituency. Despite the Modi wave in the last Lok Sabha polls, Tomar had won Gwalior by only 29,000 votes. Fearing his defeat, BJP moved him to Morena, but ended up angering many party leaders from the Gwalior-Chambal division.

Argal has raised his voice against the “preferential treatment” to Tomar. “Why does the party field Narendra Singh Tomar from any constituency he wants?” he asked on Monday.

When TOI contacted Anoop Mishra, his phone was switched off. His PA said Mishra is meeting a relative in hospital and would be unavailable for comment. Vajpayee’s niece Karuna Shukla quit BJP in October 2013, and joined Congress four months later. She had said that the “chaal, charitra an chehra” of BJP has changed. In November 2018, Congress pitted her against former CM Raman Singh. She put up a tough fight and lost to Singh by 17,000 votes.