BJP want Modi, not Mahajan, to fight from Indore

Bhopal: Amid growing suspense over renomination of Lok Sabha speaker and septuagenarian BJP leader Sumitra Mahajan from Indore in Madhya Pradesh in the upcoming polls, local party leaders have demanded to field Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the seat.

Core committee of Indore unit of BJP on Tuesday wrote a letter to Central Election Committee (CEC) of the party demanding to declare Indore as second seat for the PM, in addition to the Varanasi where he was going to seek re-election in the upcoming parliamentary polls.

“The core committee of Indore unit of BJP has passed a resolution seeking PM’s nomination for the seat”, an Indore BJP leader said.

The BJP has already made it clear that the PM would contest from one seat only in the ensuing general elections.

Other BJP leaders who were in the race for BJP ticket for Indore included Indore Municipal Corpo-ration mayor Malini Gour and BJP national general secretary in-charge of West Bengal Kailash Vijayvargiya.

Incidentally, the Pradesh Election Committee (PEC) of the party has recommended the single name of Ms Mahajan to the Central Election Committee for consideration for her re-nomination from the constituency.

Party sources however said the delay in declaring candidate for Indore along with 13 Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh has led to suspense over Ms Mahajan’s renomination from the constituency.

Talks making buzz in the BJP circle said the possibility of denial of ticket to Ms Mahajan this time on ground of her crossing 72 years of age, as happened in the case of L K Advani and Murali Manohar Joshi, cannot be ruled out.

Ms Mahajan has won the seat eight times in a row. She was only woman MP in the country who won elections in a constituency consecutively for eight times.