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Journalism of Courage
Amid talk of a chill in relations between the BJP central leadership and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s government, the party on Monday released the fourth list of 57 candidates — all MLAs — for the coming elections.
The list features Chouhan and 24 of his ministers, including seven who are seen as loyalists of Union Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia. In total, the list accommodates eight of Scindia’s loyalists. This is a strong signal that the central leadership has placed its faith in the Union Minister despite several leaders from his camp switching over to the Congress in the last couple of months.
Chouhan will contest from his home ground Budhni — a seat in Sehore district that he has represented five times. State home minister Narottam Mishra who serves as the government spokesperson will contest from Datia, a seat in northcentral Madhya Pradesh that he has won thrice. Public works minister Gopal Bhargava, who also holds the cottage and rural industry portfolios, will contest from Rehli in Sagar district. He has been winning from the seat since 1985 and has been a state minister since 2003. Minister of Urban Development and Housing Bhupendra Singh, whom the Congress has accused of corruption, will contest from Khurai in Sagar district.
The other ministers who have been fielded are medical education minister Vishwas Sarang (Narela, Bhopal district); cooperation minister Arvind Singh Bhadoria (Ater, Bhind district); Minister of State (MoS) for horticulture and food-processing Bharat Singh Kushwah (Gwalior Rural), mineral resources minister Brijendra Pratap Singh (Panna, district of same name), and agricultural minister Kamal Patel (Harda, district of same name).
BJP insiders said the ministers were given a chance again as “there were no other alternatives”, with the party relying on their “mobilisation efforts”. BJP state secretary Rajneesh Agrawal told The Indian Express, “Our ministers were decided based on their winnability. These were the best candidates for the job. They also hold the responsibility to win their neighbouring seats.”
Another discernible pattern in the list is also that of repeating winning MLAs. In at least six seats that the BJP lost in 2018, the party has fielded leaders who switched over to the BJP in the recent past.
After the second list of 39 candidates was announced on September 25, which saw three Union ministers, four MPs and one general secretary being fielded, Chouhan had to contend with the question of whether he would get the CM seat again should the BJP win.
Chouhan has been CM for nearly two decades and, with the central leadership pulling out all its stops to battle the fatigue factor that is said to have set in against the government, he has been banking on his schemes for women to propel him back to power. After the list was announced, Chouhan told the media the list had names recommended by the state leadership. “The BJP has released one more list. I am grateful to the central leadership. The list has names as per the recommendations sent by the state. We have announced the names of 136 of the total 230 candidates so far. The remaining lists will also come soon. But where is the Congress’ list? The election dates have also been announced now. But their list is nowhere to be seen…There is infighting within Congress…We will definitely form a government once again.”
He has refused to step aside and has been campaigning hard, staying in the limelight in a way that few in the Narendra Modi-led party have done before. From being the star of a government show where he took questions from an enthusiastic young girl and betting on his schemes for women to propel him back to power to tugging at the heartstrings of voters by telling them they will miss him when “I am no longer around”, Chouhan has underscored he is not planning on going anywhere.
The seven ministers loyal to Scindia who have got tickets are energy minister Pradyuman Singh Tomar (Gwalior), water resources minister Tulsi Silavat (Sanwer, Indore district); industrial policy and investment promotion minister Rajvardhan Singh Dattigoan (Badnawar, Dhar district); public health and family welfare minister Prabhuram Chaudhary (Sanchi, Raisen district), revenue minister Govind Singh Rajput (Surkhi, Sagar district), food minister Bisahulal Singh (Anuppur, district of same name), and environment minister Hardeep Singh Dang (Suwasra, Mansaur district).
The list contains five women candidates, including Meena Singh, the Cabinet minister of tribal welfare. The BJP’s first list of 39 candidates was released on August 17. Two other lists were announced on September 25 and 26 containing the names of 40 candidates each.
