BJP set to field third Rajya Sabha candidate in MP

Bhopal: The political buzz around Madhya Pradesh’s Rajya Sabha elections intensified further late Sunday night, with BJP sources indicating that the party is now set to field a third candidate for the three seats going to the polls.

The development came after a late-night meeting of senior BJP leaders and organisation functionaries in Bhopal, where discussions were held over the party’s electoral strategy. Sources said the proposal to field a third nominee received broad consensus during the deliberations and has also got the nod from the party’s central leadership.

However, the BJP had not made any official announcement till late Sunday night.

Senior BJP leaders, including state urban development minister Kailash Vijayvargiya, former minister Bhupendra Singh and minister Govind Singh Rajput, in statements given earlier, had sounded optimistic about the party’s prospects if a third nominee was fielded. Speculation had gathered momentum amid calculations that BJP currently has around 47 surplus votes after comfortably securing numbers for two seats.

“If the leadership decides, the final call will be taken by the party’s national leadership,” a senior BJP functionary had said earlier in the day.

Monday is the last date for filing nominations.

The BJP has already fielded state BJP secretary Rajneesh Agarwal and party national secretary Tarun Chugh, while Congress nominee Meenakshi Natarajan is expected to file her nomination papers on Monday.

Congress leaders, meanwhile, maintained that their focus remained on ensuring all legislators vote together and dismissed the speculation as political signalling by BJP.