The Congress on Sunday released its first lists of candidates for the Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana polls while keeping Rajasthan waiting, probably because of the tussle between chief minister Ashok Gehlot and his party rival Sachin Pilot.
With the lists declared for the three states described as balanced and driven by winnability rather than factional influences, the central leadership doesn’t expect any major rebellions from disappointed aspirants.
Some protests were reported from Telangana late in the evening, with the supporters of a few disappointed aspirants creating a ruckus at the party office in Hyderabad. Some emotional outpourings and clashes were reported also from other parts of the state.
While some disturbances are natural, sources said the kind of trouble witnessed in the BJP camp will not be seen in the Congress because senior party leaders in all three states were working with unity of purpose.
A purported “resignation letter” from Madhya Pradesh veteran Digvijaya Singh that was circulated on social media had created a flutter, but it was soon established as false.
The “letter” purportedly quoted Digvijaya as saying he could not tolerate the injustice handed out to loyal party workers any more and therefore felt compelled to quit. Such a development, if true, could have destroyed the party’s chances in the heartland state but Digvijaya promptly intervened to expose the lie.
In a post on X, the former chief minister said: “The BJP is an expert in lying. I joined the Congress in 1971 not because of any post but out of ideological conviction. I shall remain in the Congress till my last breath. I am filing a police complaint against this fraud.”
Who was behind the “letter” is not known but it was obviously a plot to create confusion among Congress workers and instigate them to speak out against the choice of candidates.
The Congress has managed the factional pressures much better than the
BJP, having learnt from Karnataka that unity among senior leaders is imperative to success.
Party leaders said serious efforts had been made to ignore factional lobbying
and pick the best candidate from each constituency, because everybody understood the criticality of these elections.
In Madhya Pradesh, the party has heavily relied on youth, with 65 of the 144 candidates announced on Sunday being under the age of 55. The total number of seats in the state is 230.
Among the 144 picked so far, 39 are OBCs apart from the SC and ST candidates picked for the reserved seats, and 19 are women.
Kamal Nath, who didn’t contest the last time to ensure he was free to campaign, has been fielded from his home constituency of Chhindwara.
The party has fielded a political greenhorn — TV actor Vikram Mastal who had played Hanuman in a serialised version of the Ramayan — against chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan from the Budhni seat. The last time, former state Congress president Arun Yadav had unsuccessfully challenged Chouhan.
In Chhattisgarh, all the senior leaders have been fielded again, including chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, deputy chief minister T.S. Singhdeo, Assembly Speaker Charandas Mahant, ministers Tamradhwaj Sahu and Ravindra Choubey, as well as Mohan Makram and Kawasi Lakma.
The late Mahendra Karma’s wife Devati Karma, who had contested the last time, has been replaced with their son Chavindra Karma. Eight sitting MLAs have been denied tickets.
In Telangana, the Congress named 55 candidates on Sunday. Here, too, all the senior leaders , including state unit president Revanth Reddy, have been fielded. The first list for Rajasthan is expected on October 18.
