The Bhopal Lok Sabha seat has emerged as a challenge for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after Congress has fielded former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh.
Bhopal constituency has been considered a saffron citadel since 1989 and, thus, the BJP is mulling to field a heavyweight candidate against Digvijay.
This seat has been reduced to a prestige issue for the BJP which rides on the support of Hindus and does not wish to lose against Digvijay Singh whom the saffron party vigorously accuses of minority appeasement. In the endless list of probables, the name of Pratibha Advani, daughter of BJP patriarch LK Advani, is also learnt doing rounds. The name started making round soon after Advani who has been denied re-nomination from Gandhinagar, went public airing his views on anti-national debate.
To add, in 2014 as well, the BJP high command on the insistence of party MP unit had offered Advani to contest from Bhopal but the latter had declined the offer saying he wanted to stick to Gandhinagar.
As the name of Pratibha Advani, a successful anchor and YV producer, makes round in Bhopal, the local BJP unit seems disinterested. “I don’t think there is much credence in the news as Pratibha Adavni would not be a good choice as she is an outsider,” said State BJP Spokesman Rajneesh Agrawal. Sindhi population is barely around one lakh so Pratibha’s candidature can’t be surety of a win, added the leader. Another party leader contacted on the issue also affirmed the party won’t place the bet on novice like Pratibah Advani especially when the stakes are really high on the Bhopal seat.
Caste equations also don’t back Pratibha much. Bhopal has a Sindhi population of around 1.25 lakh. Besides, Digvijaya Singh’s candidature is bolstered by the fact that Muslims who traditionally side with Congress have a population of around 3.5 lakh in Bhopal.