Bhopal: The announcement of date for the assembly by-election in Damoh has generated a lot of political heat.
Former Congress legislator Rahul Lodhi who has switched over to the BJP is set to get ticket for the by-election.
Giving ticket to Lodhi has affected the family politics of former minister Jayant Malaiya who lost to Lodhi in the assembly polls of 2018.
Malaiya wants his son Siddharth Malaiya be given ticket for Damoh. The wife of Malaiya, Sudha Malaiya, too, wants her son to fight election from Damoh.
The conflict between Lodhi and Malaiya has rattled the BJP. The party leaders are trying to convince the Malaiyas that they should not fight the election as rebels.
The party leaders are also trying to stop Siddharth from fighting the election on Congress ticket.
When the by-elections to 28 assembly seats were being held, Gourishanker Shejwar from Sanchi created the same situation for the party as Malaiya’s son is doing in Damoh.
Despite Shejwar’s opposition, BJP candidate Prabhuram Choudhary won the election by a margin of 66,000 votes.
On the other hand, the Congress does not have a strong candidate who can take on Lodhi in Damoh.
The main contender for the party ticket is the Congress’s district president Ajay Tandon.
The Congress wants to field a candidate on the ground of caste equation. The party may field any Lodhi candidate.
Mukesh Nayak, also a contender for ticket, is on good terms with party’s state in charge Mukul Wasnik. So, he may also be made a candidate.
Besides that, the Congress does not have as popular a leader as Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, which has become a major problem for the party.
