BHOPAL: Several ministers of the erstwhile Shivraj Singh Chouhan government, who tasted defeat in the 2018 Assembly polls, are now eyeing seats for the Lok Sabha elections There are 29 seats from Madhya Pradesh up for grabs.
At least seven former ministers are believed to be lobbying for tickets, particularly as there is a strong possibility of the sitting MP’s from those seats being denied re-nomination from the same seats.
Former MP Jails minister Antar Singh Arya is lobbying through his contacts in the party’s central leadership to contest from Khargone seat. With possibility of sitting BJP MP Subhash Patel being denied ticket this time, Arya (who lost from the Sendhwa seat in the Assembly polls) and Gajendra Patel (son of BJP leader Umrao Singh Patel) are being seen as frontrunners.
In the Khandwa-Burhanpur seat, former Women and Child development minister Archana Chitnis, who lost the Assembly polls to Independent candidate Surendra Singh Shera from the Burhanpur seat, is reportedly lobbying through at least two senior leaders in the state and central unit. Former revenue and home minister Umashankar Gupta is eyeing the Bhopal Lok Sabha seat, which has been a saffron citadel since 1989. He lost from the Bhopal Dakshin Pashchim Assembly seat.
Another former minister, 71-year-old Jayant Malaiya, who was the finance minister but lost the Assembly poll from Damoh, is lobbying to try his luck from the Sagar LS seat.
Leaders in the party’s state unit however, were not pleased and said these former ministers could hurt the party.