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Journalism of Courage
Firmly ensconced in the chair after his victory in the Budhni Assembly by-election, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Chauhan has mooted the candidature of his wife Sadhana Singh for the Vidisha Lok Sabha seat, vacated by him.
Sources said Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha L K Advani and BJP president Rajnath Singh are, however, cold to the idea. Both are learnt to have told Chauhan not to press her candidature.
They are inclined to field Varun Gandhi, son of Sanjay Gandhi, waiting for a launch after having joined the saffron outfit over two years ago. On his part, Varun had visited the Sangh Parivar’s Mecca – Nagpur to seek the blessings of RSS Sarsanghchalak K S Sudarshan way back in October 2004.
The CM tried to set the ground for his wife’s nomination in the Budhni by-election. Sources said Sadhana not only campaigned for him, her daily tour programme used to be put out like those of BJP stalwarts.
Chauhan’s anxiety is understandable. Vidisha is an old RSS-BJP stronghold, which he has won five times. Once Varun represents it, he would lose it for good. Whereas, his wife would make way for him whenever he wishes to return to the Centre.
The BJP high command has a different priority. One, Varun has been on the wait for being suitably accommodated for too long. Advani wanted to make him a general secretary, but his proposal met with a stiff resistance from second-generation leaders. Getting him into the Lok Sabha and making him defend BJP ideology and policies while sitting face-to-face with Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi is seen as a good strategy by the leadership.
The high command foresees trouble for Varun in case Uma Bharati enters the fray. Her popularity with the rank and file, general mass sympathy for her due to her removal from chief ministership and the two lakh OBC vote in the constituency can spell doom for the Gandhi-Nehru family scion. Added to this would be Chauhan’s lack of interest in his candidature.
Sadhana’s nomination too is fraught with risk. She does not have any base in the party. Bharati would seize upon her candidature to illustrate her charges against the BJP.
Either way, the task of the BJP high command is going to be difficult.
