Hectic lobbying for MP BJP seats

New Delhi: Hectic lobbying is at play for party tickets in Madhya Pradesh where Assembly elections are scheduled by the end of the year.

Amid reports that the BJP top brass has decided to field nearly 50 per cent members of Parliament in the Assembly polls and favour new faces in the Lok Sabha elections scheduled next year, many MPs and their supporters have started making trips to party’s state headquarters and meeting senior leaders. As per many poll predictions, the coming Assembly polls are going to be tough for the BJP, which has been ruling the state for 14 years.

Among prominent MPs whose supporters have started lobbying also include Faggan Singh Kulaste, Anoop Misra and Alok Sanjar. Sources disclosed other than nearly 50 percent MPs, the candidates list for the Assembly polls could also see many new faces as feedback reaching the BJP leadership suggest that many MLAs, including ministers in the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government, are facing massive anti-incumbency.  

Adding to the BJP woes, the saffron polls managers are also wary of the Opposition Congress, which seems to be in a resurgent mode. The ruling party had to face defeat in bypolls and the Congress managed to pull up its political graph in local body polls. Among the issues that have been worrying the BJP leadership is unrest among the farming community. The state has been witnessing farmers protests unrest despite the state government announcing sops and the chief minister himself meeting farmers groups.

Months ahead of the crucial Assembly polls, the BJP leadership has decided to go for a major organisational change, replacing state unit chief Nand Kumar Chauhan with Rakesh Singh, after complaints from party workers and leaders that senior leaders, including ministers remain inaccessible and the bureaucracy was more powerful than the organisation in the state.