BHOPAL: It's been a fortnight since Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar was named by the BJP leadership as the candidate from Dimni in MP's Morena, but he is yet to visit the constituency.
Tomar is among three Union ministers fielded in the assembly polls in MP as part of BJP's strategy to counter anti-incumbency by projecting multiple potential faces for the CM's post, and to use heavyweights to wrest Congress-held seats.
Tomar is widely perceived as the frontrunner for the CM's chair if BJP wins, and is also the head of the party campaign committee. Evidently, he has a lot on his hands and is burning up the miles in air between MP and Delhi, and on the state's roads. Even on Tuesday, when TOI tried to contact him, he was in Delhi. But, his absence so far from his own battle arena has led to intense speculation. Local BJP leaders, however, say he doesn't need to campaign in Dimni to win, and has more responsibilities elsewhere in the state.
Tomar was among a clutch of heavyweights named in the second list of 39 candidates on September 26. Party national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya hit the ground running in Indore-1 seat the same night, and has been campaigning with gusto, though he admitted to being "confused and surprised" at being fielded.But Tomar has been silent on returning to the assembly turf after 15 years. In the fortnight since, he has visited Gwalior, 60km from Dimni, many times, and even several areas of Morena district, but not his constituency. He has not even tweeted on his candidature.