Uncountable on fingers, almost more than a dozen sitting Congress MLAs have requested Chief Minister Kamal Nath to give them tickets for contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, however, party disapproved.
There are six tribal-reserved constituencies in the state – Ratlam, Dhar, Betul, Mandla, Khargone and Shahdol. These legislators want to contest from these seats five of which are presently represented by BJP MPs.
Congress lost Ratlam in 2014, but regained the seat in a bypoll in November 2015. Chief minister Kamal Nath, who is also the state PCC chief, has ruled out the possibility of fielding a sitting MLA. He reportedly said that party has taken the decision not to field any sitting MLA for Lok Sabha.
State Congress tribal cell president Ajay Shah has been asked to speak to MLAs who have sought Lok Sabha tickets. Speaking to Times of India, Ajay Shah said, “There are 47 tribal-reserved assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh. In 2013, Congress party had only 15 tribal MLAs, but in 2018 assembly elections we won 31 seats. After being elected legislators, all were aspiring to become ministers.”
There are four ministers in the Kamal Nath cabinet that belong to the tribal community, including Bala Bachchan, Omkar Singh Markam, Umang Singhar and Surendra Singh Honey Baghel.
After not finding a place in the 28-member cabinet, many MLAs are now keen to contest Lok Sabha polls. But the Congress’ position in the state assembly is such that it cannot afford to field even some popular faces for Lok Sabha because the party in power has only 114 of its own MLAs in a house of 230.
CM Kamal Nath had formed his government with the support of four independents, two BSP legislators and one Samajwadi party MLA. The numbers in the state assembly are such that Congress cannot risk fielding sitting MLAs, while the BJP which has 109 MLAs might field some senior former ministers only if its wants to change some sitting MPs.
The rush for tickets from tribal reserved seats is so aggressive that 32 aspirants have submitted their applications for the Betul seat where BJP’s sitting MP Jyoti Dhurve is involved in fake certificate controversy. The MP’s tribal certificate has been annulled by a scrutiny committee and the state tribal welfare department.
Source: TOI
Stay tuned for more updates!
