Lok Sabha polls: Delay in naming candidates expose chinks in BJP armour

BHOPAL: With the clock ticking away, BJP’s dilemma in announcing candidates for prominent seats like Bhopal and Indore has sparked resentment and fueled discontentment among the BJP's factions. The delay in naming candidates from the high-profile seats has also dealt a psychological blow to party workers who were supposed to hit the constituencies, by now.
As of now, the BJP has announced candidates for 24 Lok Sabha seats of which it is already facing a tough time in 10 seats with open rebellion where some sitting MPs were dropped.In the mist of this drama, the BJP state president Rakesh Singh is tied down in his own constituency in Jabalpur where he is pitted against Congress heavyweight, Vivek Tankha.
Adding to the woes is the recent statement by BJP firebrand leader Uma Bharti, who drew widespread political attention on Sunday by saying when asked whether would contest from Bhopal, “Shivraj Singh Chouhan is a senior leader and had been chief minister for 13 years, so he could easily defeat Digvijaya Singh in Bhopal. But, leaders like Rameshwar Sharma, Alok Sanjar, Krishna Gaur, Shailendra Sharma, Bhagwadas Sabnani and Vishwas Sarang are also strong and can defeat Singh easily.”
Bharti’s statement raised many eyebrows in the political circles and is being viewed as a reflection of her strained relations with Chouhan, who had taken over as chief minister after she was removed in 2005. Uma’s statement was taken with a pinch of salt by the Congress, that is trying to grab the opportunity to target the saffron party.
“BJP can only put up a ‘vague challenge’ before the Congress candidate Digvijaya Singh in the absence of a strong name. Uma Bharti is naming Shivraj Singh Chouhan, but the latter named Uma. Somebody named Narendra Singh Tomar and others are looking for some big shot to challenge Digvijaya in Bhopal. But, none of these leaders have dared to take on the challenge, reacted Congress state spokesperson, Narendra Saluja, taking a dig at BJP’s dilemma.
Party leaders close to Uma Bharti believe the former chief minister was upset over the rumours spread by a section of BJP leaders against her ‘disinterest’ to contest Lok Sabha election from Bhopal to keep her away from the state politics.
Not only Uma Bharti, senior leaders Kailash Vijayavargiya, Rakesh Singh, leader of opposition (LOP) in MP Assembly Gopal Bhargava, former minister Narottam Mishra and veteran Babulal Gaur also share different views over the party's poll strategy and role of heavyweights to challenge the Congress in MP.
"The present state of BJP reminds of 1998 era when the party had strong and capable leadership under the presence of former chief minister Sunderlal Patwa, Kailash Sarang, Vikram Verma and Likhiram Agrawal, but still Digvijaya Singh, managed to win a second term. Narendra Modi was BJP state organisational general secretary those days,” recalled a senior BJP state functionary.
As leaders refuse to contest against Congress stalwarts, BJP workers shaken by the delay and disinterest, can only wait and watch. For them, this is the most crucial election in the state in recent decades after party lost assembly polls by a thin margin. The Lok Sabha elections is being closely watched by political analysts all over the country because the outcome of this election is likely to decide the future of the saffron party in Madhya Pradesh.