BHOPAL: Family or cadre, this is the million dollar question the ruling BJP and the Congress are facing as they prepare for the October 30 bypolls to three assembly seats and one Lok Sabha seat in Madhya Pradesh. According to key sources within the state BJP, on at least three seats (two Assembly and one Lok Sabha) the party might field the kin of the deceased lawmakers to cash in on the sympathy factor.
In Khandwa-Burhanpur Lok Sabha seat, which fell vacant due to the death of six-time MP Nandkumar Singh Chauhan, his son Harsh Chauhan is one of the frontrunners for ticket. However, there is no unanimity on his name, and former minister Archana Chitnis (who had frosty ties with Nandkumar Chauhans), Gyaneshwar Patil and Ashok Paliwal, too, are in the race. The name of BJP national general secretary and ex-MP minister Kailash Vijayvargiya is also doing the rounds.
In the Raigaon seat, which fell vacant after Jugal Kishor Bagri’s death, his son Pushpraj Bagri is leading the race though he had lost in 2013. In Prithvipur assembly seat, which fell vacant due to death of sitting Congress MLA, those in the race for BJP ticket include Ganeshi Nayak, the son of Sunil Nayak, who was murdered during 2008 assembly polls. The Congress is likely to field Nitendra Singh Rathore, son of deceased sitting MLA Brajendra Singh Rathore.