E-Paper
BJP fielding close family relatives
did a turnaround while deciding on its candidates for the parliamentary and Assembly by-polls in Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday, reports HS Bartwal.
The BJP, which is in the habit of claiming moral high ground on the issue of promoting families in politics, did a turnaround while deciding on its candidates for the parliamentary and Assembly by-polls in Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday.
The party’s central election committee finalised the name of Rajasthan CM
Vasundhara Raje’s sister and MP tourism minister Yashodhra Raje Scindia for contesting the by-election to the Gwalior Lok Sabha seat next month.They belong to the erstwhile royal family of Gwalior and their mother , Rajmata Vijaya Raje Scindia, too was a prominent leader of the BJP.Vasundhara’s son Dushyant Singh is an MP from Jhalawar in Rajasthan.
Similarly, the ticket for Udaypura Assembly seat by-poll was given to Shashi Prabha, the wife of Vidisha MP Rampal Singh who himself had contested a by-election to the parliamentary seat after it was vacated by state Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan last year.
Ironically enough , while deciding in his favour at that time, the party leadership had rejected the candidature of the CM’s wife as well as BJP leader Maneka Gandhi’s son Varun on the ground that it did not want to encourage promotion of families in politics.
The central election committee meeting, which was attended by party chief Rajnath Singh and Atal Bihari Vajpayee among others, also decided to field Kunwar Singh for the by-poll to Sidhi Lok Sabha seat in the state that is reserved for a member of the Scheduled Caste.The election to Gwalior seat was necessitated due to the expulsion of Ram Sewak Singh Gurjar from Lok Sabha membership for his involvement in the cash-for-query scam.
For by-election to the Tuensang Sadar -II constituency in Nagaland , Y Wongto Chang was chosen as the party candidate.
