Rebellion takes extreme turn in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, Congress leader attempts suicide over denial of ticket

Kushwah, aged around 65, consumed poison near the statue of former union minister Madhavrao Scindia after failing to get a party ticket from any of the seats of Gwalior district on Friday.
Image used for representational purpose only
Image used for representational purpose only

BHOPAL: Internal rebellion continued to trouble the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress on even on Friday, the last date of filing nominations for the November 28 assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh.

The rebellion took an ugly turn in Gwalior district where a veteran Congress leader Prem Singh Kushwah attempted to end life by consuming poison after failing to get a party ticket from any of the seats of Gwalior district on Friday.

Kushwah, aged around 65, consumed poison near the statue of former union minister Madhavrao Scindia (father of Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia) on Friday morning. He was rushed to the Jai Arogya Hospital in Gwalior, where his condition is stated stable now.

Kushwah was a ticket aspirant from two seats, including Gwalior East and Gwalior South, but failed to get the party's nod, after which he attempted the extreme step.

A suicide note purportedly written by Kushwah went viral over the social media, in which it was mentioned that he was pained by rumours about him joining BJP. The note also mentioned the party giving tickets to those who joined Congress from other parties and neglecting the interests of committed party workers.

The opposition party is also facing a rebellion in several other seats of the state, including Waraseoni seat of Naxal affected Balaghat district, from where the Congress has fielded Sanjay Singh Masani, the brother-in-law of chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

Three-time former MLA Pradeep Jaiswal has not only filed nomination as independent from the seat, but there is a strong possibility of him along with other Congress leaders quitting the party by Friday night.

Back in Bhopal local Congress workers from Huzur assembly seat of Bhopal district protested at the party office against fielding of Naresh Gyanchandani as the party candidate. The opposition to official party candidate from Huzur seat of Bhopal was not only confined to the Congress, as the ruling BJP which presently holds the seat too is facing opposition from former MLA Jitendra Daga from the seat. Daga filed nomination as an independent candidate from the seat.

In the adjoining Berasiya seat of Bhopal also former legislator has filed nomination as an independent against official party candidate and sitting MLA Vishnu Khatri, while the sitting BJP MLA from Bhind seat of Bhind district Narendra Kushwah quit the BJP and joined the Samajwadi Party (SP) on Friday to contest as an independent against party candidate Chaudhary Rakesh Singh Chaturvedi.

In another significant development, former MP finance minister Raghavji filed nomination as the independent candidate from Shamsabad seat of Vidisha district after his daughter Jyoti Shah was denied ticket by BJP from the same seat. The 84-year-old leader is facing trial in a case of sodomy, owing to which he had quit the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government in 2013 before being arrested by police and expelled from the party. Raghavji had won the Shamsabad seat as BJP candidate in 2003.

Hundreds of kilometres away in Ujjain district, supporters of Jitendra Pandya created ruckus at the party office, after their leader who was the party's official candidate from Badnagar seat till Thursday evening was denied ticket just before the filing of nomination on Friday. The ticket was instead given to Sanjay Sharma.

In the adjoining Indore district, two Congress leaders, Priti Agnihotri and Kamlesh Khandelwal filed nomination as independents from Indore-I seat, where the opposition party declared Sanjay Shukla as party candidate instead of municipal councillor Priti Agnihotri on Thursday night. Agnihotri, who was earlier declared the party candidate from the same seat has also quit as Congress councillor.

In Indore-V seat also, local Congress leader Chote Yadav has filed nomination as independent against party candidate and ex-MLA Satyanarayan Patel.

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