Conflict between Congress and BJP over candidature in by-polls

SANDEEP PURANIC |Bhopal In Madhya Pradesh, there is a conflict between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress over the selection of candidates for the assembly by-elections. Both political parties are yet to announce all the candidates. By-elections are proposed in 28 assembly constituencies in the state. In the last assembly election, the Congress won 27 of these places, while the BJP candidate won one place. In this way, the by-elections to the assembly are to be held at these 28 places. Two lists have been issued by the Congress for the by-election. There were a total of 24 candidates. The names of the candidates have not been decided at four places. There is also a tussle over this in the party. On the other hand, the BJP has not officially announced the name of any candidate yet. By the way, it is being said by the party that 25 leaders will be party candidates who have left the Congress, they are sure to contest. There is no consensus among the BJP about the remaining three places. Overall, both the BJP and the Congress are going through an internal tussle. According to sources in the Congress, the biggest drag within the party is about the Mehgaon assembly constituency of Bhind, the party has different opinions on the name of the candidate and due to this, there is no consensus. Similarly, there is no consensus in the BJP on Agar-Malwa, Jaura and Biaora. The discontent in Biaora is that many activists have come to the party’s state office to protest.Regarding the delay in candidate selection, the leaders of both parties are making the same argument that the candidates are being decided by consensus, which is why there is some delay in the declaration of names. According to political analyst Arvind Mishra, it is not easy to choose the names of candidates for both parties, be it the Bharatiya Janata Party or the Congress. While the BJP has a challenge to make the majority of the leaders leaving the Congress a candidate, on the other hand it is not easy for the Congress to field new faces. Both parties are making candidates from other parties candidates and this is the reason why the pull in these political parties is not taking the name of stopping.