In Key Battle Ahead, BJP Names 25 Congress Turncoats in List of 28 Candidates for MP Bypolls

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday released a list of 28 candidates for the upcoming by-elections, accommodating 25 former Congress MLAs.

As many as 14 of them have already been made ministers in Chouhan’s government and desperately need to win to retain their ministerial berths.

It was long anticipated that those who left the Congress in March this year along with Jyotiraditya Scindia to help Shivraj Singh Chouhan come to power would be rewarded with BJP tickets for the bypolls. And, Tuesday’s list had very little surprises in store.

However, there were also speculations in certain corners that some of the new entrants could be dropped from the list amid rising dissent in the BJP camp. Eventually the ruling party seems to have quelled the rebellion successfully.

As many as 22 Congress MLAs had resigned and left the Congress with Scindia in March this year that led to the fall of the Kamal Nath-led government in the state.

Three others — Pradyumn Singh Lodhi, Sumitra Devi Kasdekar and Narayan Patel — had resigned from the party later, and have now been named by the BJP as its candidates for the upcoming bypolls.

Confident of being rewarded, the former Congress leaders had already started campaigning in their respective constituencies.

The Congress has named 27 candidates in three lists, while refrained from announcing a nominee from the Biaora constituency that fell vacant after the demise of party MLA Govardhan Dangi.

With both the BJP and Congress well behind the majority mark in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly, the bypolls hold key for the survival of Chouhan’s government, while the Congress fights a face-saver battle.