MP Chief Minister, Leader of Opposition file papers
BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Leader of Opposition in the Vidhan Sabha Ajay Singh ‘Rahul’ chose the auspicious day of Dhan Teras on Monday to file the nomination papers for the November 28 polls.
While Chouhan filed the nomination as BJP candidate from his hometown Budhni in Sehore district, Singh filed his nomination paper as the Congress candidate from his family’s pocket borough Churhat seat in Sidhi district. The Chief Minister filed nomination after offering prayers along with wife Sadhna Singh on the banks of river Narmada and at the temple of his Kuldevi in his native village Jait.
Speaker resigns from Congress in Mizoram
GUWAHATI: In a blow to the Congress, Mizoram Speaker Hiphei resigned from the ruling party and joined the BJP on Monday. He is the fifth sitting Congress legislator to resign since September. For the past few weeks, he was not going along well with the Congress state leadership, particularly Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla.
After joining the BJP, the seven-time MLA said he would contest from Palak in Siaha district. The AICC had earlier decided to field him from the seat although his name was not officially announced. Hiphei said the BJP’s central leadership had promised him to give greater autonomy to the state’s autonomous district councils. He said Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had assured him that amendment would be made to the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution to give more teeth to the councils.
BJP candidate, a former minister, from Rajpur dies after heart attack
BHOPAl: Devi Singh Patel, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from Rajpur assembly seat in Barwani, died of a heart attack on Monday. Patel was a Minister of State in the BJP government led by Uma Bharti in 2003. Patel’s family members said, the former minister suffered a heart attack at around 4 am and was rushed to the government hospital in Rajpur, 14 km away.
However, doctors declared him dead on arrival. He had suffered cardiac trouble during Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s Jan Ashirwad Yatra in September, and had undergone an angioplasty. Patel contested seven Assembly polls between 1985 and 2013 and won thrice (1990, 1998 and 2003) from Anjad seat and Rajpur seat in 2008.