Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is faced with Hobson's choice with regard to a dozen Ministers in his council of Ministers. Chouhan is under pressure to deny ticket to these Ministers in the coming Assembly polls but the Chief Minister is reluctant to sack them.
Chouhan has been told that re-nominating these dozen Ministers who said to have performed below par would seriously undermine BJP position in Assembly polls where a somewhat resurgent Congress under Jyotiraditya Scindia is trying to stage a comeback.
The anti-incumbency against over a dozen Ministers, is posing threat to the dreams of the BJP to make a hat trick by winning the Assembly elections scheduled onNovember 25.
Besides these Ministers, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is enjoying clean image. There had been some problems with the alleged involvement of Chouhan's family members, but even the main opposition in the State Assembly time and again endorsed publicly that Chief Minister has good image.
In Madhya Pradesh, while his ministers are in soup in their own constituencies, Shivraj Singh Chouhan is riding on pro-incumbency wave. There are at least half a dozen Ministers who are facing enquiries against them.
Following the anti-incumbency factor, 11 ministers of the BJP Government are seeking tickets by changing their present constituencies. The ruling BJP is almost ready with the first list of its candidate, but it is keeping the list on the hold as several incumbents might be dropped to refurbish the part's sagging image in some constituencies. Some sitting MlAs could be shifted to other seats.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, State BJP chief Narendra Singh Tomar and organisational general secretary Arvind Menon have drawn up a list which would be presented before the state election committee during a two-day session early next week. This could leave the party's central leadership with very little time to finalise the names.