Digvijay Singh's Bhopal nomination sparks race for BJP ticket

Bhopal: Nomination of former chief minister Digvijay Singh for the prestigious Bhopal seat in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections by Congress has triggered race for ticket for the constituency in BJP.

Many heavyweights in the party in Madhya Pradesh who were not keen to contest the forthcoming general elections have tossed their hat into the ring in a bid to settle their respective political score with Mr Singh.

Former chief minister and BJP national vice-president Shivraj Singh Chouhan who had earlier expressed his reservation to join the fray in the parliamentary polls, has declared to fight against Mr Singh if the party wished.

“I am prepared to take on Mr Singh if BJP wanted”, he said while fielding questions by reporters here if he would prefer to fight against Mr Singh in Bhopal.

Interestingly, Mr Chouhan had lost to Mr Singh in the 2003 assembly polls in Raghogarh seat.

BJP national general secretary in-charge of West Bengal Kailash Vijayvargiya has also declared to take on Mr Singh if party gave him ticket for Bhopal this election.

“I love to defeat Mr Singh. I am prepared to take him on if party gives me ticket for Bhopal. It will be a different kind of pleasure to defeat Mr Singh in the elections,” he told reporters.

State BJP vice-president and sitting MLA Rameshwar Sharma also threw his hat in the ring in the race for ticket for Bhopal.

“I am ready to fight against Mr Singh. But, there is no need for BJP to field a heavyweight agai-nst the Congress veteran. Any ordinary worker of the party can defeat Mr Singh considering growing annoyance of people against him due to his prominority stand”, Mr Sharma said.