By L S Herdenia
BHOPAL: BJP which claims to be a party with a difference is facing unexpected and unprecedented opposition over the selection of a candidate for the Budhni Assembly seat. The Budhni is facing a bypoll to be held on November 13.The Budhni bypoll was necessitated after Shivraj Singh Chouhan vacated following his victory from Vidisha Lok Sabha seat in the recent Lok Sabha polls.
A section of party workers shouted slogans against candidate Ramakant Bhargava, one of Chouhan’s most trusted men, and demanded that he be replaced with former MLA Rajendra Singh Rajput. If the candidate wasn’t changed, their votes would go to NOΤΑ, said Rajput’s supporters. Some even threatened to vote for Congress candidate Rajkumar Patel.
Voting is on November 13.Rajput was the Budhni MLA in 2005 when he left the seat to accommodate Chouhan, who was then freshly appointed chief minister. Chouhan would go on to be CM for 18 years, during which Budhni elected him to assembly five times.
On Tuesday, former BJP minister Rampal Singh, who is in charge of the bypoll, arrived in Budhni’s Bharaunda tehsil for a strategy meet. Irate supporters of Rajput gathered and started shouting slogans for him. Singh repeatedly tried to pacify them and asked them to discuss the issue with him in private, but the workers would not relent and kept shouting, “Rajendra Bhaiyya, Rajendra Bhaiyya.” Singh had to leave half-way through his speech.
A section of BJP workers here openly demands that Bhargava be replaced. BJP is learnt to have given the ticket to Bhargava after consulting with Chouhan and didn’t expect such open dissent.
Rampal Singh said, “In the 2003 assembly election, Rajendra Singh Rajput was one of those who brought down the Congress govt. He sacrificed his seat in 2005 for development of the state. His sacrifice gave the state a leader who transformed Madhya Pradesh from BIMARU category to a developed one.”
He specifically told party workers that the state BJP office sent the name of Chouhan’s son Kartikeya for the Budhni candidature. “Веcause Kartikeya’s name was on the panel, Shivraj Singh Chouhan did not attend the meeting to finalise the candidate,” Singh said.
The BJP will face main challenge from the Congress. Congress selected Rajkumar Patel who has a controversial past. He was once put up to oppose late Sushma Swaraj who was contesting from Vidisha Lok Sabha constituency. But Rajkumar Patel gave a rude shock to party leadership when during the election he withdrew from the contest and facilitated Sushma’s victory. He was suspended from the party and was later expelled. He was not given entry for many years. But later he was admitted because he belongs to a family which has been loyal to the Congress, his sister-in-law (Bhabi) Vibha Patel has been mayor of Bhopal. At Present she heads the Mahila Congress of Madhya Pradesh.
Meanwhile the Samajwadi Party broke INDIA alliance when it decided to file nomination for Budhni seat. Explaining the reason why it did so, a party spokesman claimed that its state president Manoj Yadav held a meeting with senior Congress functionaries, including PCC chief Jitu Patwari, former minister Sajjan Singh Verma, former Union minister Arun Yadav, and former MLA Shailendra Patel last week.
“The meeting with our state president took place at the residence of Jitu Patwari. Since there are two assembly seats going for bypoll, we asked for one of those seats. We were told that the Congress’ senior functionaries will speak to the party high-command and tell us about the decision. But they did not get back to us and on Sunday, they declared their candidates from both the seats,” SP state spokesman Yash Bhartiya said.
Finally Congress candidate for the Budhni bypoll, Rajkumar Patel, filed his nomination papers on Thursday in Sehore. He was accompanied by PCC chief Jitu Patwari and other senior party functionaries. The Congress also displayed its strength in former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s turf, with a rally led by Jeetu Patwari, Rajya Sabha MP Vivek Tankha, former MP Congress President Kantilal Bhuria, and former LOP Ajay Singh.
Former ministers Sajjan Singh Verma and PC Sharma were also present, along with MLAs Rajneesh Singh, Atif Aqeel and state president of the Mahila Congress Vibha Patel.
Addressing the bypoll rally in Budhni, Patwari said, “The enthusiasm of the people of Budhni who participated in the nomination rally shows that change is coming. The people of Budhni will give the message in the by-election that atrocities on women should be curbed, atrocities on farmers should stop, atrocities on the youth should stop, and atrocities on Dalits and tribals should stop.” He further said that Shivraj Singh Chouhan sat on the CM’s chair for 20 years after becoming an MLA from Budhni and calls himself a farmer’s son, but the state of farmers was the worst during his tenure. (IPA Service)