Fielding 7 MPs in Madhya Pradesh Polls ‘Masterstroke’; Makes Sense Politically, Socially: BJP Leaders to News18 – News18

Putting up seven of its Members of Parliament as assembly poll candidates will prove to be a “masterstroke” for the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Madhya Pradesh elections as this alone would contribute to winning 10-15 more seats than in 2018, top BJP leaders handling the state have told News18. “It makes sense politically and socially,” one of them said.

One of them could also be the next chief minister if the party does not choose to go with Shivraj Singh Chouhan. The frontrunners here are seen as union minister Prahlad Singh Patel, an OBC leader, senior BJP leader and union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar, who is an upper caste leader and union minister Faggan Singh Kulaste who is a tribal leader.

BJP leaders said all seven MPs who are now candidates in the assembly elections are also campaigning for other party nominees. “We can easily win 10-15 extra seats from 2018 due to this as the cadre in these seats has been enthused and has sent a message that BJP is taking the election seriously. The seven MPs belong to different castes and have been put up on difficult seats,” a top BJP leader said.

The party thinks that with this move, it stands to gain in districts like Morena, Narsinghpur, Chhindwara, and Jabalpur where it did not perform well in 2018. The Congress had swept all six seats of Morena and all seven seats of Chhindwara in 2018. The BJP won only five out of the 12 seats in the Narsinghpur and Jabalpur districts. The party is looking at Patel to deliver Jabalpur and Narsinghpur and at Tomar to deliver Morena. The MPs also have a point to prove as the CM chair race is wide open, another senior BJP leader added.

Instead, the Congress has been forced to change seven candidates after declaring the ticket list and some in the party feel that a weak contender has been put up against CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Budhni. The Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh camps have a difference of opinion on at least 10-12 candidates. “This will prove to be the difference in the end,” a senior BJP leader reasoned.