Issue ads for Indore, Bhopal seats, MP CM taunts BJP

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath Saturday taunted the BJP for the delay in announcing candidates for the Indore and Bhopal Lok Sabha seats, both considered strongholds of the saffron party.

He said the BJP should issue advertisements inviting suitable candidates for the two seats.

Senior leader and former chief minister Digvijaya Singh is the Congress' nominee from Bhopal while the BJP is yet to announce its candidate.

The seat has been held by the BJP since 1989 and the 2014 polls was won by Alok Sanjar who defeated the Congress' PC Sharma by a margin of over 3.70 lakh votes.

Indore is represented since 1989 by Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan.

"The BJP is breaking out into a sweat. It should issue an advertisement to find candidates," Nath told reporters at the Congress headquarters here.

Queried on the demand from some quarters that Guna MP Jyotiraditya Scindia be fielded from Indore to wrest the seat from the BJP, Nath said the latter's case was "different".

"Scindia is a sitting MP. There is his own area which he has been representing. So his case is different. There is no such question (of seat change) unless he himself takes any decision," Nath said.

The MP CM predicted the Congress would win 22 out of 29 Lok Sabha seats in the state, adding that the BJP would not cross 160 seats across the country in the April-May polls.

He said the Congress would announce candidates for the remaining MP Lok Sabha seats in the next three-four days.

On the occasion, Vijay Shukla, brother of ex-BJP minister Rajendra Shukla and some BJP leaders from Satna and Rewa districts joined the Congress.

The BJP had won 27 out of 29 seats in the 2014 polls, with only Scindia from Guna and Nath from Chhindwara managing to withstand the Narendra Modi wave.