Nakul Nath stepped into his father Kamal Nath’s shoes on Thursday with Congress fielding him as party candidate from Chhindwara, the Lok Sabha constituency which has been represented by the senior Nath for nine terms. Congress on Thursday released its second list announcing names of 12 Lok Sabha candidates from Madhya Pradesh. With this list, the Congress has so far announced candidates for 21 out of 29 Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh.
The list includes the names of candidates from four constituencies which are going to polls in the first phase on April 29. Besides exuding faith on seasoned leaders, the party has given ticket to lesser known faces. While Nakul Nath, son of CM and Congress state president Kamal Nath will take poll plunge from Chhindwara, Siddharth Tiwari, son of late Congress MLA Sundarlal Tiwari will make his electoral debut from Rewa Lok Sabha seat. Sunderlal Tiwari had passed away recently and the party believes that Siddharth will be able to garner sympathy votes.
The party has given ticket to Raja Ram Tripathi from Satna constituency, while Kamal Maravi will contest on Congress ticket from Mandla. Former Leader of Opposition Ajay Singh, who had lost Assembly election from Churhat last year, has been fielded from Sidhi Lok Sabha seat.
All India Congress Committee Legal Cell Chairman Vivek Tankha will contest from Jabalpur, where he will face state BJP president Rakesh Singh, the sitting MP. Singh had defeated Tankha in Jabalpur in 2014. All eyes will be on Khandwa seat where the party has fielded former state president Arun Yadav. BJP is yet to declare its candidate, however it has set eyes on party former state president Nandkumar Singh for the seat.
Prabhu Singh Thakur, the former chief minister Digvijaya Singh cabinet has been given ticket from Sagar LS seat. Pratap Singh lodhi, who was the district panchayat president and had served as member of panchayat thrice has been named from Damoh constituency. He will face BJP sitting MP Parhlad Patel; the two candidates belong to the same community.
Folk singer Prahlad Tipaniya has been nominated from Dewas (SC seat), Babulal Malviya from Ujjain (SC seat) and Dr Govind Muzaalda from Khargone (ST seat). Ramkrishan Kusmaria, the former Union minister who had recently joined Congress and was expecting ticket, has been left disappointed.
No decision yet on key seats
The Congress has yet to announce candidates from four seats- Gwalior, Bhind, Morena and Guna seats from Gwalior-Chambal region. Guna seat is represented by AICC general secretary Jyotiraditya Scindia. Party has still to decide candidates for key seats including Vidisha and Indore. Guna and Chhindwara were the only seats won by the Congress in the state in 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
