Congress plays multiple strokes in 1st list, 27% are OBC candidates

Congress on Sunday released the first list of its 144 candidates for the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly elections. The list included the name of state unit president Kamal Nath from Chhindwara while also retaining 69 out of the 96 sitting MLAs, including 19 ministers of the 15-months-old previous Congress regime.

The much awaited list was released just 32 days before the election date scheduled on November 17 on the first day of auspicious festival Navratri at sharp 9 a.m. believing on numerical addition of 9 (1+4+4= 9).

With fielding 27 per cent (39 out of 144) candidates from the Other Backward Class (OBC), the Congress also tried to justify its claim of 27 per cent reservation for the community-already a battle on this issue going on between the Congress and BJP in Madhya Pradesh.

To counter the possible resentment from the upper caste, it has fielded an equal number of candidates -- Brahmins (18) and Kshatriya (18) and the 52 candidates in reserved seats for the Scheduled Caste (22) and the Scheduled Tribe (30).

The Kamal Nath led MP Congress, which is pursuing the agenda of soft-Hindutva to counter BJP’s time-tested Hindutva agenda, has fielded small screen’s ‘Hanuman,’ actor Vikram Mastal Sharma against CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan from Budhni seat of Sehore district.

Mastal, who hails from Budhni only, had enacted the role of Hanuman in Anand Sagar’s Ramayan and had joined the Congress on July 4. He is also the head of Congress’s Narmada Sena formed for the cause of river Narmada in MP.

The party has denied tickets to at least five sitting MLAs, including ex-union minister Kantilal Bhuria from Jhabua-ST seat (his son Vikrant Bhuria will be the candidate), Shiv Dayal Bagri from Gunnaur-SC seat, Bramha Bhalawi from Ghoradongri-SC seat, former Vidhan Sabha speaker NP Prajapati from Gotegaon-SC seat and Tamlal Sahare from Katangi seat.

Also, the party has fielded at least five former BJP leaders, including Avdhesh Nayak against home minister Narottam Mishra from Datia seat, former Jyotiraditya Scindia-loyalist Baijnath Yadav from Kolaras seat, Neeraj Sharma against Scindia-loyalist minister Govind Singh Rajput from Surkhi seat, Rao Yadvendra Singh Yadav from Mungaoli and former BJP MP Bodh Singh Bhagat from Katangi seat.

The party also gave weightage for dynastic politics, starting with seventh-times sitting MLA from Lahar (Bhind) seat and leader of opposition Govind Singh, whose maternal nephew Rahul Bhadauria has been fielded from Mehgaon seat of the same Bhind district and Singh’s close relative ex-MLA Chanda Singh Gaur has been fielded against Uma Bharti’s MP minister nephew Rahul Singh from Khargapur seat of Tikamgarh district.

In Alirajpur district of western MP, both the Congress candidates come from the same family. While the first-time sitting MLA Mukesh Patel will be a candidate from Alirajpur seat, his sister-in-law Sena Patel has been fielded from Jobat seat.

In the adjoining Jhabua district, state Youth Congress’s chief Vikrant Bhuria (who had lost in 2018 polls) has been fielded from Jhabua-ST seat which was won by his father and ex-union minister Kantilal Bhuria in the 2019 by-election.

Former CM Digvijaya Singh’s son and second-time MLA Jaivardhan Singh and his younger brother Lakshman Singh have been repeated from their constituencies. Priyavrat Singh, who is a relative of Digvijaya Singh, has also been retained from Khilchipur seat of Rajgarh district.

While former deputy chief minister Late Jamuna Devi’s nephew and ex-minister the third-time sitting MLA Umang Singhar has been fielded again from Gandhwani-ST seat, second-time sitting MLA and former minister Surendra Singh Baghel has been repeated from Kukshi-ST seat, which was won by his father Pratap Singh Baghel three times between 1972 and 1980.

Similarly, Rupali Nandu Bare, the daughter of Congress veteran Nandu Bare, has been fielded from Pandhana-ST seat, while former MLA Rajnarayan Singh Purni’s son Uttam Pal Singh will contest from Mandhata seat.

Former deputy CM Subhash Yadav’s younger son, the two-times sitting MLA and ex-minister Sachin Yadav will contest from family’s pocket-borough Kasrawad seat, while former MP minister and third-time sitting MLA Vijaylaxmi Sadho has been fielded from Maheshwar-SC seat, which was won by her father Sitaram Sadho thrice in the past.

In Indore district, former Ujjain and ex-Sanwer MLA Premchand Guddu’s daughter Rina Bhaurasi will be the candidate from Sanwer-SC seat.

Also, the sitting MLA Alok Chaturvedi (brother of former Congress MP Satyavrat Chaturvedi) has been repeated from Chhatarpur seat, ex-MLA Hemant Katare (son of former LoP Satyadev Katare) will contest from his old seat Ater.