Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Two BJP rebels withdrew their nominations after holding talks with Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday. Leader of opposition in Nagar Nigam Kamlesh Agarwal who filed nominations as an independent candidate from the Jabalpur North constituency pulled out of the contest.
Agarwal rebelled against the party leadership for giving a ticket to Abhilash Pandey from this constituency. Agarwal held talks with Chouhan at Dumna airport in Jabalpur and withdrew his candidature. Similarly, Kailash Bagana took back his nominations after a discussion with the Chief Minister.
CM called Bagana and discussed the issues the latter raised. Afterwards, Bagana decided to withdraw his nominations as an independent candidate.
Vice president of the BJP’s district unit Rajendra Singh Jadaun also pulled out of the contest from Shajapur, besides BJP leader from Badnawar Ratanlal Patidar took back his nominations. BJP candidate from Huzur in Bhopal Rameshwar Sharma and Congress aspirant from this seat Naresh Gyanchandani visited the house of former legislator Jitendra Daga. Sharma held a closed-door meeting with Daga. As soon as Gyanchandani came to know of it, he also reached Daga’s house, and took him to the bungalow of MPCC president Kamal Nath.
In the morning, BJP’s state unit president VD Sharma and organisational secretaries held talks with the rebels over the phone. According to sources, a few rebels, despite getting a piece of advice from the senior leaders, did not agree to pull out of the contest. Harshvardhan Singh Chouhan contesting the election from Burhanpur, Ramesh Malviya from Alote, Bhagwati Choure from Hoshangabad, Moti Kashyap from Badwara, Pannabai Prajapati from Mangawan and Kamaleshwar Devlia from Niwari refused to withdraw their nominations.
Nath, Digvijaya pacified some rebels, a few of them still angry
MPCC president Kamal Nath and former chief minister Digvijaya Singh also tried to pacify the rebels to withdraw from the contest. After holding talks with Nath, former legislator from Jhabua Javier Meda withdrew his nominations. Nath assured Meda of an important position if the Congress formed the next the government. Similarly, Shyamsunder contesting from Patan seat in Jabalpur and Vinod Shrivastava from Panagarh pulled out of the contest after holding talks with Congress’s RS member Vivek Tankha. Digvijaya Singh held talks with Ameer Aqeel and Naseer Islam who filed papers from Bhopal North constituency.
Shekhar Choudhary, who filed papers from Gotegaon, said he would withdraw nominations after holding talks with Nath. These leaders will take a decision on Thursday. The Congress leaders spoke to the rebels Rajendra Singh from Badnagar, Kaushalya Gotia from Sihora and Prenchand Guttu from Alote throughout the day. The Congress is giving assurances to the rebels. Nath has already convinced Gajendra Rajukhedi, Pradeep Ahirwar, Kedan Kansana and many others to take back their nominations.
Now, it is decision to fight polls, rest to be seen today
Former MLA Jitendra Daga said BJP legislator Rameshwar Sharma visited his house to tell him to return to the party. Rameshwar said he would organise a meeting between him and the Chief Minister. Naresh Gyanchandani told him not to contest as independent, Daga said, adding that he had listened to Gyanchandani, too. According to Daga, he also met Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh. Daga said he, however, stuck to his guns to contesting the election for now, but he might take a decision on Thursday.
