While the BJP brainstorms in Delhi to finaliase candidates on a sizable chunk of seats ahead of Lok Sabha polls, the ruling party may go for an OBC-Brahmin-Kshatriya formula on three unreserved seats of MP’s Vindhya region. The party is mulling to field fresh faces on the three seats, particularly as four-times MP Ganesh Singh (an OBC leader) lost recent assembly polls from Satna segment, while second-time MP from Sidhi seat Riti Pathak won the assembly polls from Sidhi seat. Also, the party is planning to replace second-time sitting MP Janardan Mishra from Rewa seat this time with a fresh face.
Lone BAP MLA booked for assault, extortion
Kamleshwar Dodiyar, the lone Bhartiya Adivasi Party (BAP) MLA in Madhya Pradesh has been booked in tribal dominated Ratlam district for allegedly assaulting a medical store owner Tapan Roy and demanding `1 crore in extortion, after accusing Roy of indulging in illegal practices. The FIR has been lodged under Sections 384, 327, 323, 294 and 506 IPC on Roy’s complaint. The first-time MLA from Sailana-ST seat of Ratlam district hails from a very humble background and had contested the 2023 polls through crowd-funding.
SP plans to expand base in Khajuraho
Dearth of strong candidate in the Congress and the Samajwadi Party’s big plans of expanding in UP-MP’s Bundelkhand region by building a base in Khajuraho seem to have clinched the Khajuraho Lok Sabha seat for the Akhilesh Yadav-led party in the recent Congress-SP seat sharing deal. According to sources, land has been purchased on Khajuraho’s outskirts as part of SP’s plans to expand its potential in Bundelkhand region. The SP, which has been finishing third or fourth in Khajuraho since 1999 LS polls, was primarily responsible for Congress’s defeat from the seat in the 2004 polls. The Khajuraho seat has been won four times in the past by ex-CM Uma Bharti.
Anuraag singh
Our correspondent in Madhya Pradesh
singhanuraag.jaurno@gmail.com