Lok Sabha elections: Only those greedy for power, wealth and land have abandoned the Congress, the party's senior leader and Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh said today (March 3). His comments came a day after the name of his former colleague Jyotiraditya Scindia was announced in the BJP's first list of Lok Sabha candidates. Scindia, who shifted from the Congress to the BJP in March 2020, will fight from Guna seat.
"Only those who are greedy for power, wealth and land are leaving the party. Only those who don't believe in the politics of ideology but do politics to get power have left," Singh said. Incidentally, Scindia had lost from Guna in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls on a Congress ticket. He was defeated by the BJP's KP Singh Yadav.
BJP releases first list of 24 candidates for upcoming Lok Sabha elections
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday released its first list of 195 candidates, including 24 candidates from Madhya Pradesh for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan will contest from Vidisha constituency while Union Ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia, Virendra Khatik and Faggan Singh Kulaste will contest from Guna, Tikamgarh (SC) and Mandla (ST) constituencies respectively.
Former CM Chouhan's wife welcomed him home by putting a 'Tilak' on his forehead after the announcement of his candidature in the Lok Sabha elections, in the state capital Bhopal.
Chouhan told media, "National reconstruction is the mission of the BJP and under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the country is experiencing amazing and unprecedented development. History has been created in public welfare works. We all are workers of the National Reconstruction Mission. Whatever work the party considers appropriate, it is given to the party workers. The party has decided to let workers like us contest the elections. I am grateful to the central leadership. Once again I have got the privilege to serve the public."
It is a very balanced list of candidates, in which youth, women, and others have been given a chance to work, Chouhan further said. Meanwhile, Chouhan also extended congratulations to Union Minister Scidia on announcement of his candidature in Lok Sabha elections from Guna constituency. With this, the party has replaced ten candidates in its first list which include Morena, Gwalior, Sagar, Sidhi, Jabalpur, Hoshangabad, Vidisha, Bhopal, Ratlam and Guna Lok Sabha constituencies.
Out of 29 Lok Sabha seats in the state, saffron party announced 24 candidates which are mentioned below:
- Morena - Shivmangal Singh Tomar
- Bhind (SC) - Sandhya Rai
- Gwalior- Bharat Singh Kushwaha
- Guna- Jyotiraditya Scindia
- Sagar - Lata Wankhede
- Tikamgarh (SC)- Virendra Khatik
- Damoh - Rahul Lodhi
- Khajuraho - VD Sharma
- Satna - Ganesh Singh
- Rewa - Janardan Mishra
- Shahdol (ST)- Himadri Singh
- Jabalpur - Ashish Dubey
- Mandla (ST)- Faggan Singh Kulaste
- Hoshangabad - Darshan Singh Chaudhary
- Vidisha - Shivraj Singh Chouhan
- Bhopal - Alok Sharma
- Rajgarh - Rodmal Nagar
- Dewas (SC) - Mahendra Solanki
- Mandsaur - Sudhir Gupta
- Ratlam (ST) - Anita Chouhan
- Khargone (ST) - Gajendra Patel
- Khandwa - Dnyaneshwar Patil
- Betul (ST) - Durgadas Uike
The five Lok Sabha seat on which candidates are yet to annouced include Chhindwara, Balaghat, Ujjain, Indore and Dhar. Of 195 candidates, 34 are Ministers from the Centre and States while two are former Chief Ministers who are in the list. While announcing the first list, BJP National General Secretary Vinod Tawde said, "The names of 195 candidates have been finalised. The list includes 47 youth candidates, 28 women candidates, 27 Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates, 18 Scheduled Tribes (ST) candidates and 57 OBC/Backward Class candidates. The party has announced the list keeping all communities in focus."
(With agencies inputs)
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