The Bharatiya Janata Party second list of thirtynine names for Madhya Pradesh is of big surprises, with the party fielding three Union ministers, four MPs and a national general secretary in a state where it is facing a tough competition from the Congress.
Union ministers Prahlad Patel, NS and Faggan S Kulaste will now contest the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, along with MPs Rakesh Singh (former state BJP president and Jabalpur MP), Ganesh Singh, Reeti Pathak and Uday Pratap Singh, apart from general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya.
The senior leaders are seen as moving the field wide open for chief minister choice should the BJP win, with NS Tomar, Patel and Vijayvargiya now strong contenders. Shivraj Singh Chouhan has been CM for 20 years, but for a brief two-year period after the 2018 results when the Congress had finished ahead of the BJP narrowly.
The party has been worried about fatigue setting in regarding Chouhan, who has incidentally not been named the CM face, even as Kamal Nath is leading an energetic Congress campaign, matching the BJP.
