MORENA (MP): The BJP surprised political circles in September by naming seven Lok Sabha members and one national general secretary – among them three Union ministers – in its second list of candidates for the November 17 assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh.
Perhaps the most powerful among those eight candidates was Union agriculture minister and former state party president Narendra Singh Tomar. He is currently the MP BJP election management committee head.
Popular as Munna Bhaiya among old BJP circles in the state, Tomar is the BJP candidate from Dimani seat of Morena district, which forms a part of his parliamentary constituency Morena in the Gwalior-Chambal region.
Tomar is facing a tough battle in a constituency that has around 80,000 Tomar Rajput votes. Among his opponents are two candidates from his Tomar clan – the sitting Congress MLA Ravindra Tomar and AAP candidate Surendra Tomar. Besides, expecting a split in the Tomar votes is former MLA and BSP candidate Balbir Dandotiya, who counts on around 60,000 Brahmin votes and around 20,000 Scheduled Caste votes.
The Union minister’s poll prospects may also be hit following the recent murder of a Gurjar youth allegedly by Tomar youths in a village of the Dimani constituency. The calculation on the minister’s side is that he would be able to strike a winning combination of Tomars and OBCs, particularly the 15,000 to 20,000 Gurjar votes. Further compounding Tomar’s problems is the recent viral video of his son Devendra Tomar (Tomar Jr is seen talking about deals worth over Rs 100 crore) about which the Congress has already complained to the ECI.
It’s not just Tomar who is set to face a tough contest. Six others too are believed to be on a sticky wicket. They include Union minister Faggan Singh Kulaste (Niwas-ST seat), Satna MP Ganesh Singh (Satna assembly seat), fourth-time Jabalpur MP Rakesh Singh (Jabalpur West seat), second-time Sidhi MP Riti Pathak (Sidhi assembly seat), second-time Hoshangabad MP Rao Udai Pratap Singh (Gadarwara seat) and party national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya (Indore-1 seat).
Murder can upset equation
Tomar’s poll prospects may also be hit following the recent murder of a Gurjar youth allegedly by Tomar youths in a village of the Dimani constituency.
Split in votes
The BP MP is facing a tough battle from a seat that has around 80,000 Tomar Rajput votes. Among his opponents are two candidates from his Tomar clan – sitting Congress MLA Ravindra Tomar and AAP candidate Surendra Tomar.