Madhya pradesh: Bharti woos Lodhi voters in bypoll-bound Damoh

BHOPAL: Uma Bharti wooed Lodhi voters in Damoh as she campaigned for Rahul Lodhi, BJP candidate for the by bypoll to be held on April 17.
Camping in Damoh, Uma said, “Union minister Prahlad Patel and I give a rock like support to the party. In any crisis, we are together to resolve it.” Political observers see Damoh bypoll as the reemergence of the ‘Lodhi factor’ in Madhya Pradesh.
Addressing a meeting in Damoh, Uma Bharti, said: “Pradhyum Lodhi in Badamalehara and Rahul Lodhi in Damoh had contested from Congress after people wanted them to do so. Prahlad Patel and I asked them to quit Congress and join the BJP”, she said, referring to the context of why elections were due in Damoh. In turn of events, Rahul Lodhi, who had been praising former chief minister Kamal Nath till a day before quitting Congress, had first gone to Uma Bharti’s bungalow in Bhopal before proceeding to the BJP office to join the party.
Prahlad Patel is an MP from Damoh, while Bharti belongs to a village in the neighbouring Tikamgarh district in Bundelkhand.
Sources in BJP said that the two leaders had joined hands after a long period of “political distancing”. This is being seen as regrouping in the party. The BJP veteran from Damoh and three times finance minister Jayant Malaiya has been sidelined totally, BJP sources point out. The outcome of the election will also decide the future of Malaiya in Damoh.