10 days & counting: BJP yet to name Digvijaya's opponent

BHOPAL: The battle for Bhopal Lok Sabha seat — a BJP stronghold since 1989 — has turned into psychological warfare between BJP and Congress. It’s been 10 days since Congress named former CM Digvijaya Singh, but BJP is yet to name a candidate against him.

As far as psy-ops go, Congress has so far had the upper hand. Every day that BJP fails to field a candidate against Digvijaya, Congress is happy to take as a win in the battle of perception. Chief minister Kamal Nath even taunted the BJP on Bhopal and

Indore

seats, saying: “BJP is breaking out into a sweat. It should issue an advertisement to find candidates.”

BJP’s hesitation is all the more surprising since Bhopal was counted among the safest seats for the saffron party. Six days ago, BJP national general secretary Kaliash Vijayvargiya had announced that “any BJP worker would defeat Digvijaya” in Bhopal. Instead, BJP has given Congress a 10-day head start in campaigning in the state capital.

In 10 days, more than a dozen BJP leaders have been named to confront the Raja of Raghogarh, who is considered an ‘outsider’ in Bhopal. Before Digvijaya was fielded, the BJP names doing the rounds for Bhopal included sitting MP

Alok Sanjar

, mayor Alok Sharma, BJP state general secretary Vishnu Dutt Sharma, party veteran Babulal Gaur and Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case. Immediately after Digvijaya was named, the buzz centred around three prominent names: former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Union minister Uma Bharti and Pragya Thakur. And a day ago, rumours were abuzz that Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar — the sitting MP from Gwalior, who has been shifted to Morena this time — would be pitted against the Congress stalwart.

Asked about the delay in naming candidates for Bhopal and Indore, the state leadership passes the buck to the central command. “We have sent panels of names for all seats. Now the central election committee is to take a decision on the nominees,” BJP state president Rakesh Singh told reporters at the party’s head office on Monday. He dared Congress to field its heavyweights, and said, “BJP will make a clean sweep on all seats, including Indore, Bhopal and Jabalpur.”

Digvijaya, who has already hit the campaign trail in Bhopal, has challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to contest from Bhopal. “I will be happy if Chouhan contests from Bhopal. And if BJP has a bigger leader, then he should be fielded. I think Prime Minister Modi should contest against me from Bhopal. I am ready to contest against anyone,” the former CM said six days ago. BJP is yet to pick up the gauntlet.

Firebrand leader Uma Bharti, who had toppled Digvijaya’s government in 2003, has refused to accept the challenge, saying, “I will not fight the election from Bhopal or anywhere else. But I will campaign extensively for BJP to remind public of the failures of Congress rule.” What was more surprising was Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s statement: “I am not very eager to fight the election. However, if the party insists, I will think of it. I am ready to fight anywhere.”