The nephew also rises

The BJP central election committee (CEC), in tune with its freshly acquired penchant for the promotion of nepotism, today nominated a nephew...

The BJP central election committee (CEC), in tune with its freshly acquired penchant for the promotion of nepotism, today nominated a nephew of former chief minister Sunder Lal Patwa for an Assembly constituency in Madhya Pradesh. What is worse, the claim of the sitting MLA from the seat was overlooked in the process.

While the CEC, which met in New Delhi, cleared the names of 39 MP candidates, nominees for only 20 of the 230 seats are yet to be named. Sources said Surendra Patwa’s nomination from Bhojpur constituency is the result of intense lobbying by the elder Patwa. BJP’s chief ministerial candidate Uma Bharti, who proposed Surendra’s candidature, left nobody in doubt about the goings-on behind the scene when she told the meeting: ‘‘The indication came from above — we did it.’’

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Though the proposal met with stiff resistance from several members, including Union Minister Karia Munda, who pressed for the re-nomination of sitting MLA Naresh Patel, they were over-ruled by party chief M. Venkaiah Naidu.

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While Patwa’s lobbying was effective, Union Minister Vikram Verma failed to get a ticket for his wife Nina from his home constituency, Dhar. However, he achieved success by blocking the ticket of Ashok Jain, a Hindu Jagran Manch activist of the Bhojshala controversy-fame, who had the blessings of Bharti. The ticket went to Sharad Vijayvarghiya.

Minister of State Sumitra Mahajan is still struggling to get people of her choice from Assembly segments of her LS constituency, Indore. A recent defector from Congress, former minister Pratap Singh Baghel, has been given a ticket to challenge Dy CM Jamuna Devi in Kuksi. Former minister Dhyanendra Singh, brother of Vijaya Raje Scindia and husband of Rajya Sabha MP Maya Singh, has been fielded from Morar.

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