Bhopal: Anxiety is growing in the ruling BJP here over nomination for the Rajya Sabha seat from the state, vacated by Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, by the party. The recent ‘surprising’ development in which turncoat Ramniwas Rawat, who switched over to BJP from Congress a few days before the just-concluded Lok Sabha elections, was inducted in the Mohan Yadav cabinet, has left the party leaders wondering as to if a ‘core BJP leader’ will be given the RS ticket or the party leadership will opt for a ‘non-core BJP leader’ to accommodate in the seat. “A sense of anxiety pervades across the organisation over the nomination for the vacant RS seat by the party. It is being hotly discussed in the party if the Central leadership will choose a core BJP leader or a non-core party leader for the seat”, a senior BJP functionary told this newspaper, unwilling to be quoted, while summarising the sentiments in the saffron outfit in the state over the issue. Several senior leaders including former Union ministers, ex-MPs and sitting MLAs were among around 20,000 Congress activists who had joined BJP before the recently held LS elections. Some Congress leaders, particularly the then sitting MLAs, were reportedly given assurances of suitable rehabilitation in various posts and positions for joining BJP, sources said. Besides, several senior leaders in BJP have also started lobbying with the party leadership to promote a turncoat of their choice by ensuring the RS ticket for him to counter influence of their rival leaders in BJP, another BJP leader said. As it is discontentment is simmering in BJP in the last several months over ‘blanket induction’ of leaders, irrespective of their political relevance, from other parties in the saffron outfit, sources said. The seething resentment came into the open when senior BJP leaders such as eight-time MLA Gopal Bhargav has reminded the party leadership that the saffron leaders can also join Congress, if overlooked for long. His word of caution came in the backdrop of Mr Rawat’s induction in the state cabinet. “The nomination for the RS seat by the Central party leadership may prove crucial since it will send a message, right or wrong, across BJP in Madhya Pradesh”, a BJP leader said, requesting not to be quoted. BJP has a brute majority in state Assembly with strength of 163 out of 230 seats and is in a position to win the RS seat in the forthcoming biennial polls.
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