Attempt to breach BJP’s Vindhya bastion as party MLA floats outfit in MP

“The new party will be registered by May 15 and will be the party of every native of Vindhya region. You give me 30, I’ll give you Vindhya,”
BJP MLA Narayan Tripathi. (Photo | Facebook)
BJP MLA Narayan Tripathi. (Photo | Facebook)

BHOPAL: Bordered by eastern Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, it was the Vindhya region, which prevented Congress from returning to power after 15 years in the 2018 assembly polls. It also gave the BJP respectable numbers to topple the Kamal Nath government with Jyotiraditya Scindia’s help just 15 months later in Madhya Pradesh.

With just six months left for the next assembly polls, the same region seems to be emerging as one of the most intriguing battlegrounds of the poll-bound state, particularly in the wake of ruling BJP MLA Narayan Tripathi announcing a new political party for the cause of a separate Vindhya Pradesh.

Tripathi, the fourth-time MLA from Maihar (Satna), who is often seen as a quintessential turncoat politician (he has been an MLA with SP and Congress one time each and with the BJP twice) announced on Sunday, the new party.

“The new party will be registered by May 15 and will be the party of every native of the Vindhya region. You give me 30, I’ll give you Vindhya,” Tripathi said, dropping clear hints of the new outfit contesting 
all 30 seats. 

Reacting to his party’s MLA’s decision to launch a new party and contest all 30 seats of Vindhya, the state BJP president VD Sharma said, “appropriate action will be taken by the party organization in the matter.” On the other hand, Ajay Singh ‘Rahul,’ ex-MP minister and senior Congress leader from Vindhya (often seen as Tripathi’s bete noire) said only time will tell what fate holds in store for him (Tripathi) and the new party.

Vindhya region houses 30 assembly seats, out of which BJP had won 24. The Congress managed just 6 seats in the 2018 assembly polls. Though the main contest on the 30 seats was between the BJP and the Congress, the BSP too was a force to reckon with on some seats.

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