BJP Springs Surprise By Giving RS Ticket To Organization Man
“I was surprised when I was informed by state party president Hemant Khandelwal that I am the party’s RS candidate": Mr. Agrawal
BHOPAL: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has sprung a surprise by selecting state party secretary Rajneesh Agrawal as one of its two candidates for the June 18 Rajya Sabha polls in Madhya Pradesh, sidestepping claims of many senior leaders.
Mr. Agrawal, a product of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), has been chosen as the RS candidate for BJP over many veteran leaders such as state urban development minister Kailash Vijayvargiya, former minister Narottam Mishra and former minister Aravind Bhadoria.
Significantly, Mr. Agrawal had preferred not to join the other RS ticket aspirants from Madhya Pradesh in lobbying with the party’s Central leadership for the nomination.
“I was surprised when I was informed by state party president Hemant Khandelwal that I am the party’s RS candidate. I could never think in my wildest imagination that I would be given an opportunity to go to RS. I had never visited Delhi to lobby for the ticket. I always believed that the party rewards the workers who work hard with dedication”, Mr. Agrawal said on Friday.
Sources said that his name was added in the list of the prospective RS candidates by the state party leadership at the last moment.
The list was recently sent to the Central party leadership for approval.
Sources said that Mr. Agrawal had not even lobbied with chief minister Mohan Yadav for the party ticket.
This can happen only in BJP where even a worker can rise to the highest position if he or she is dedicated to the party and works hard, he said.
Mr. Agrawal, who has earned the tag of ‘Ghost of the Booth’ in the BJP for ruthlessly executing the party’s plan for strengthening the BJP at the booth level by digitizing 64,000 booths in the state before the November 2023 Assembly elections, said that his selection for RS ticket by the party will boost the morale of the BJP workers.
The other candidate selected by the party for RS polls in the state is BJP national general secretary Tarun Chug.
Three RS seats in Madhya Pradesh are going to polls on June 18.
Congress has selected former MP and AICC general secretary in-charge of Telangana Meenakshi Natarajan as party candidate for the RS polls in the state.
All the three candidates from BJP and Congress will be elected unopposed to the Upper House if no fourth candidate joins the fray.
