3 UNION MINISTERS AND 4 MPS IN FRAY: BJP VETERANS CREATE BUZZ IN ELECTIONS

After the BJP fielded seven Lok Sabha MPs, including three Union ministers, for the November 17 assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh in a change of strategy, the question doing the rounds in political circles is whether these big guns will fire and propel the saffron outfit into office for a fifth term in two decades by overcoming anti-incumbency.

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According to some political analysts, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s move looks “high on optics but low on substance” and an attempt by the ruling party to maximise its gains by banking on stalwarts who have wide appeal in certain regions of the state.

Springing a surprise, the BJP last month fielded seven MPs, including three Union ministers -- Narendra Singh Tomar, Prahlad Singh Patel and Faggan Singh Kulaste -- all seen as potential contenders for the CM’s post, in the polls for the 230-member assembly.

In addition to them, the ruling party has put up BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, also a potential CM face, from the Indore-1 assembly seat against sitting Congress MLA Sanjay Shukla.

BJP is back in the campaign again after launching stalwarts and is offering a strong fight in many seats. Careful attention has been made to give tickets on basis of surveys and winnability and that’s why stalwarts have been given tickets because they can win.

It is an open secret that names of Narendra Tomar, Vijayvargiya , Prahlad Patel and others were not recommended for poll tickets by district units of the BJP, Kidwai said.

Instead, he pointed out, they were picked by the BJP Parliamentary Board “in order to boost party campaign in various regions of the state”.

Former state BJP president and Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Tomar, the incumbent Lok Sabha MP from Morena, is contesting from Dimani, where the Congress has once again fielded sitting MLA Ravindra Singh Tomar.

In the 10 elections held for the Dimani assembly seat since 1980, the BJP won six times. The saffron party, however, has lost all the three previous elections from the seat in Morena district, including a bypoll.