MP: Congress Veterans Shy of Contesting LS Polls, No Heavyweights in Party’s First List for MP
Bhopal: Congress veterans of Madhya Pradesh have so far refused to budge under the pressure by the Central leadership of the party to join the fray in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Eight-time MLA and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Dr Govind Singh on Tuesday joined the ranks of the party veterans in the state to dismiss the possibility of his seeking elections in the ensuing LS polls.
“Earlier, I was thinking about contesting from Morena (his home constituency) LS seat. But, now I have decided not to join the fray in the polls”, he said here.
Sources said that he comprised the panel of names of prospective candidates for Morena LS seat prepared by state Congress for submission to the screening committee of the party.
He indicated that Congress may field local party leader Pankaj Upadhya in Morena following refusal by Dr Singh to join the fray in the polls.
Another party veteran and former chief minister Kamal Nath has already dropped hints that he has no plan to contest in the upcoming LS elections.
“Nakulji (Mr Nath’s son) is going to seek re-election from Chhindwara in the LS polls”, Mr Nath has said.
Nath junior, the sitting Congress MP from Chhindwara, has been retained in the seat in the first list of ten candidates declared by Congress for Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday.
Another party heavyweight and former chief minister Digvijay Singh has also indicated his unwillingness to contest in the upcoming LS polls, saying that he still has two years left in his current Rajya Sabha tenure.
Two other senior Congress leaders Ajey Singh, and Sajjan Singh Verma have already made their intentions clear that they are unwilling to take the plunge into the upcoming LS polls.
Mr Singh and Mr Verma, in fact, did not make it to the first list of candidates declared by Congress on Tuesday.
In Mr Singh’s home constituency of Sidhi, Congress has fielded Kamal Patel. Similarly, in Mr Verma’s home constituency of Dewas, local leader Pankaj Upadhyaya has been nominated by the party.
Of the ten candidates declared by the party in the first list for Madhya Pradesh, two have been retained in their seats.
They are Nakul Nath (from Chhindwara) and Ramu Tekam (from Betul).
The party has put faith on fresh faces in the remaining eight seats.
The Congress has fielded sitting MLA Phul Singh Bairaya in Bhind LS seat in the state.
“No party veteran in the state is keen to contest in the LS polls this time”, a Congress leader said, unwilling to be quoted.
