Lok Sabha elections: Aggressive Congress fields stalwarts in BJP strongholds

BHOPAL: Chief minister Kamal Nath and his son Nakul will debut on the same day in different roles — Nath Senior to contest Chhindwara assembly bypoll and Nath Junior to contest the Chhindwara Lok Sabha seat that his father vacated.
The names of father and son were among those released by Congress on Thursday for the Lok Sabha election and assembly bypolls. The second and third lists of 13 names have former Union minister Arun Yadav contesting from the BJP stronghold of Khandwa and Vivek Tankha taking on BJP state president Rakesh Singh on his Jabalpur turf.Former Leader of Opposition Ajay Singh, who suffered a shock defeat in his traditional Churhat seat in the 2018 assembly elections, has been fielded from Sidhi.
Though there are no major surprises, Congress has stuck to its tactic challenging BJP in its strongholds. It had set the tone with the first list by fielding Digvijaya Singh from Bhopal — a masterstroke that stunned BJP. It’s been 13 days since Digvijaya’s name was announced, but BJP is yet to find an opponent though Bhopal is thought to be a saffron stronghold.
“It is BJP that says Congress is weak in seats like Bhopal and Jabalpur. But this time we will win Bhopal as well as Jabalpur,” CM Kamal Nath had said on Wednesday. Tankha, an eminent lawyer, had led the gruelling legal battle against then CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his BJP government on the Vyapam scam. He is pitted against two-time MP Rakesh Singh.
Late Thursday night, Congress released a 13th name: Ramniwas Rawat from Morena. A five-time MLA and former minister, he takes on a faction-ridden BJP in Morena. Five-time BJP MP Ashok Argal has rebelled there after being denied a ticket, and has threatened to contest as an independent. BJP has fielded Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar in Morena.
Singer Tipaniya adds freshness to Cong list
Congress has tried to bring in some freshness by fielding folk singer Prahlad Singh Tipaniya from Dewas. A Padma Shree, Tipaniya performs Kabir bhajans and is extremely popular in parts of MP. In Khargone, the Congress candidate is a radiologist, Govind Muzaalda, who is deeply into social work. State Congress leaders said both Tipaniya and Muzaalda are people’s choices.
While Nakul, 34, will try to retain the seat his father has represented in Parliament for 10 terms since 1980, in Khandwa, Arun Yadav, a two-time MP, has been fielded against former state BJP chief Nandkumar Singh Chauhan. Yadav was state Congress president from January 2014 to April 2018, when he was asked to step down so that Kamal Nath could take over. This will also be the third contest between Yadav and Chauhan — in 2009, the Congress leader defeated Chauhan by 50,000 votes, and the BJP veteran bounced back in 2014.
Ajay Singh will contest from Sidhi, which Congress hasn’t won in a general election since 1991. It won Sidhi in a bypoll in 2007, only to lose it two years later. In 2014, Singh lost the Lok Sabha polls from Satna by 8,688 votes — the slimmest margin in MP during the Modi wave. This time, he has been shifted to Sidhi, against sitting BJP MP Riti Pathak, while the party fielded state Congress senior vice-president Raja Ram Tripathi from Satna.
Former Speaker Shriniwas Tiwari’s grandson Siddharth has been fielded from Rewa. Siddharth’s father, former MP Sundarlal Tiwari, was also a party MLA from 2013 to 2018 and died of a heart attack a month ago.
BJP’s five-time MP and former Union minister Faggan Singh Kulaste will face a former Gondwana Gantantra Party president as the Congress’ candidate in tribal reserved Mandla seat. Congress has given the ticket to Kamal Maravi, who was the face of GGP for years. Maravi contested the assembly elections as GGP candidate from Bichiya once but lost. He joined Congress in 2016. Former ministers of the Digvijaya Singh government Prabhu Singh Thakur and Babulal Malviya have been fielded from Sagar and Ujjain and former MLA Pratap Singh Lodhi will contest from Damoh.