BHOPAL: As the ruling BJP prepares to release its fifth list of candidates – which could be its final list – for the assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh scheduled on November 17, political circles are abuzz with the possibility of Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia or a close aide being named to enter the election fray.
The BJP which was waiting for PM Narendra Modi’s return from Uttarakhand for the final seal of approval on the next list, has already named candidates for 136 out of 230 seats and the next list could have the names of remaining 94 candidates.
The possibility of Scindia or someone very close to him, had been triggered last month, after his aunt and MP sports minister Yashodhara Raje Scindia (fourth-time sitting MLA from Shivpuri seat) announced to opt out of the assembly polls race, reportedly on health grounds.
As per speculation, the union minister and four times former MP from Guna Lok Sabha seat, may be asked by the party to make his assembly polls debut from any of the three seats, Shivpuri, Kolaras (both in Shivpuri district) or Bamori seat of Guna district, currently held by his loyalist minister Mahendra Sisodiya.
But with the party’s next list likely to be the one in which 25-30 out of the 67 remaining sitting MLAs may be denied ticket (including Scindia loyalist ministers OPS Bhadoriya, Suresh Dhakad, Brijendra Yadav and Mahendra Bhadoriya), speculations gained momentum about Scindia being fielded from one of the three seats. With successive internal surveys of the BJP believed to be not suggesting a rosy picture for the party in the 34-seats strong Gwalior-Chambal region, Scindia or someone close to him being fielded in next month’s polls.
3 possible seats
The Union minister could be asked to make his assembly poll debut from any of the three seats, Shivpuri, Kolaras or from Bamori