Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh): BJP’s central leadership has kept the announcement of its candidate from Ujjain (SC reserve) parliamentary constituency on hold. Indications suggest that despite the clean image and good performance of present MP Anil Firojiya, the party is most likely to field a ‘woman’ candidate from this strong BJP bastion. This constituency falls under the hometown of Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and if sources are to be believed, the trio of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president JP Nadda will say yes to the choice of CM Yadav.
BJP’s decision to keep Ujjain seat on hold during the announcement of its candidates for 29 parliamentary constituencies of Madhya Pradesh has led to various speculations in political circles and particularly in the BJP camps. Comparatively young face and present MP Anil Firojiya, who was earlier MLA from Ujjain district, was quite confident that he would be tipped again. Moreover, he was supported by more than 70% of party functionaries and people’s representatives during the internal survey conducted by the BJP.
But now, his supporters can be seen as frustrated over the move of the party’s top leadership to keep the name of the candidate on hold from Ujjain. Some of them have reportedly left slippers and few of them even left taking food. Many of his supporters have started praying to the almighty to bless Firojiya so that he can get a ticket again. If party insiders are to be believed, Firojia’s candidature was intentionally put on the sidelines keeping in mind his proximity with the ex-CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, assembly Speaker Narendra Singh Tomar and Cabinet Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya. Names of about 70-year-old BJP leader Prabhulal Jatwa and zila panchayat member Shobharam Malviya were pushed, but the Central Parliamentary Board (CPB) was not impressed with these names.
Even the name of Rajkumar Jatiya, who is the son of former Union minister and CPB member Satya Narayan Jatiya, was also reportedly not given much prominence by the party high command. Then the issue of giving a ticket to a women candidate was tossed, which has created tremors among the male contenders. Those who have got stakes in Ujjain’s politics when they succeeded in impressing the party leadership to make a woman a party candidate in the wake of the contemporary issue of 33% reservation to the women in parliament and legislative assemblies, they pushed names of Reena aka Rani Jatwa, a housewife and former member of Vikram University’s executive council Mamta Bendwal as candidate.
Some influential BJP leaders forwarded the name of Ujjain Municipal Corporation’s ex-Mayor Meena Jonwal. Interestingly, all these names belong to the Bairwa community which has dominance among voters in Ujjain South assembly constituency. More interestingly, CM Mohan Yadav is an MLA from Ujjain South constituency so his choice will be final in the selection of the candidate, as revealed by the sources. The CPB is likely to clear the name from Ujjain constituency on March 6, they said.
