The BJP on Monday continued with its new trend of fielding Lok Sabha MPs in state elections, with the names of seven of them figuring in the first list of candidates for Rajasthan after a similar exercise in Madhya Pradesh.
The party on Monday announced 41 candidates for the 200-member Rajasthan Assembly.
Rajasthan goes to the polls on November 23.
The seven MPs mentioned in the list of candidates are Diya Kumari, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Kirodi Lal Meena, Devji Patel, Balak Nath, Narendra Kumar and Bhagirath Choudhary. The names of some MPs also figured in the second list of candidates for Chhattisgarh announced on Monday.
The BJP also announced the third list of 57 candidates for Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls and it had the name of chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan who will contest from his sitting Budhni constituency. The party has so far announced the names for 135 seats in the 230-member Madhya Pradesh Assembly.
In Chhattisgarh, the name of former chief minister Raman Singh figured in the list.
The BJP started the new trend of fielding Lok Sabha MPs in Assembly polls from Madhya Pradesh. A total of eight MPs, including three Union ministers, featured in the second list of names released by the party.
Amid an undeclared decision by the top leadership not to field any chief ministerial face in this round of state elections, the fielding of MPs is being seen as a move to replace the dominant state leaders, particularly in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
In Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj has been the longest-serving chief minister with four straight terms barring a brief gap. Similarly, in Rajasthan, former chief minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia has been dominating the state BJP for over two decades now and the party doesn’t seem to be in the mood to make her the chief minister for a third time if the BJP wrests power from the Congress in the state.
In that direction, some of the MPs fielded in Rajasthan on Monday are being seen as prospective chief ministers. Of them, Diya Kumari, the Lok Sabha MP from Mahasamund, is reported to be a favourite of the central leaders.
Apart from being a woman, Diya Kumari hails from a royal family and party leadership sees her as an apt replacement for Vasundhara.
Former Union minister and Lok Sabha MP from Jaipur Rural, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, could be another prospective face. Alwar MP Balak Nath is also said to be in the race. Nath, like Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, is a monk. More such names, including some Union ministers from the state, could figure in later lists, party leaders said.
The MPs in the Rajasthan list pointed towards a careful mix to woo the dominant castes. Apart from countering the dominant state leaders, the pitting of MPs is also being seen as an attempt to manage the bitter factional war in the state BJP units.
