Bhopal: BJP on Monday sprang a surprise in the political circles here by deciding to field its seven MPs including three Union ministers in the upcoming assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, due in November this year.
They figure in the second list of 39 candidates declared by the party for the poll-bound state on Monday evening.
The three Union ministers whose names figured in the second list of candidates of the party are Narendra Singh Tomar (from Dimni), Prallhad Patel (from Narasinghpur) and Fagan Singh Kulaste (from Niwas.
The four other MPs who are going to be fielded in the forthcoming assembly elections in the state are Rakesh Singh (from Jabalpur –West), Ganesh Singh (from Satna), Rithi Pathak (from Sidhi), Uday Pratap Singh( from Gadarwara).
BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya has been fielded from Indore-one seat. He is not a member of the current state assembly.
All these 39 assembly seats barring three, Narasinghpur, Maihar and Sidhi, were lost by BJP in the last assembly elections.
Narasinghpur assembly constituency is currently represented by Jalim Singh Patel of BJP.
He was replaced by his elder brother and Union minister Prallhad Patel in the seat.
Similarly, Maihar assembly seat is currently represented by BJP legislator Narayan Tripathy.
He was dropped and a new face Srikant Chaturvedi has replaced him in the seat.
In Sidhi seat, the sitting BJP MLA Kedar Shukla was replaced by party MP Rithi Pathak.
Mr Shukla has landed in controversy a couple of months ago when one of his alleged aides was caught urinating on the face of a tribal in his area , triggering a nationwide outrage.
BJP has last month declared the first list of 39 candidates for the poll-bound MP.
The party had been losing all these 39 seats in the last three assembly elections.
BJP has described nomination of Union ministers and MPs in the second list of candidates as a ‘political strike’ against Congress.
“The nomination of three Union ministers and four other MPs in the second list of candidates is a major political strike against Congress. The party’s heavyweights will not only ensure victory of BJP in the seats lost by the party in the last polls but also can brighten party’s prospects in their adjoining assembly constituencies”, BJP spokesman Rajneesh Agrawal said.
