Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan would contest Assembly election from two constituencies — Budhni and Vidisha. An announcement in this regard was made by the Chief Minister here on Thursday night.
Chouhan has already filed nomination papers from Budhni and he would go to Vidisha on Friday, the last day of filing nominations.
Right from the morning, a number of party workers from Vidisha had reached Bhopal and gathered at the residence of State BJP president Narendra Singh Tomar.
later, in the evening there were fast developments in the State capital. The party workers from Vidisha reached the residence of leader of the Opposition in the lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj. They pressurised Swaraj for Shivraj contesting from Vidisha. They argued that Vidisha has become synonym of Shivraj, ever since he represented this constituency in the lok Sabha.
Thereafter, a meeting of all the senior leaders of Madhya Pradesh, including the Chief Minister and Sushma Swaraj held at the Chief Minister’s residence and finally late in the night an announcement was made before the party workers at the residence of Swaraj. Shivraj said that the decision was taken after discussing the issue with national BJP president Rajnath Singh and he was ready to obey the orders.
Political observers are yet to find out the reasons behind Shivraj’s contesting from Vidisha as well, because in Budhni, the Congress has fielded a new face — Mahendra Singh Chouhan, who is lesser known in Budhni or elsewhere.
After former Finance Minister Raghavji, who had represented Vidisha Assembly seat, was terminated from the party on the charge of his alleged involvement in a sodomy case, the party was in dilemma over deciding ticket from there. Raghavji was demanding ticket for his daughter, but the party was not willing. The name of Shivraj’s wife Sadhna Singh was also doing rounds from Vidisha seat, but with this decision, party insiders feel if Shivraj wins both the constituencies, his wife might be fielded from Vidisha, after the chief minister resigns from there.