Bhopal: “One step at a time” seems to be the Bharatiya Janata Party’s mantra as it announced names for three more Lok Sabha seats, including that of Mayor Vivek Shejwalakar from the prestigious Gwalior seat.
With Congress’s indecision over naming a Scindia family candidate from Gwalior still continuing, the BJP decided to skip the names of both Maya Singh and Yashodhara Raje Scindia, both of whom are members of the extended Scindia family. The party, instead, offered tickets to Shejlawkar, who is an RSS confidante.
But given Shejwalkar’s dismal performance during his second mayoral term, he is not being considered a winning proposition in Gwalior. “His hold on administration is dismal and Gwalior has been laggard in terms of projects, including Swachhta Abhiyan, Smart City and others,” a city-based politician said on condition of anonymity.
However, Shejwalkar inherits a strong political legacy from his father, Narayan Krishna Shejwalkar. The senior Shejwalkar was an eminent lawyer, a Rajya Sabha MP and a two-time mayor of Gwalior. The younger Shejwalkar had lost an Assembly poll from Gwalior in 2003.
The nomination also dashed hopes of Morena MP Anoop Mishra, who was expecting a ticket from Gwalior after Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar’s name as put up from Morena. Tomar has hinted at shifting to Bhopal in order to accommodate Mishra.
The BJP named another senior RSS functionary, Mahendra Solanki, from Dewas. With no political background, Solanki is a reputed social personality hailing from the Balai community. Solanki’s parents used to work as daily-wage labourers and he will be up against folk singer Prahlad Tipanya contesting on a Congress ticket.
The BJP has also fielded another RSS nominee, Nathan Shah, from Chhindwara to take on Chief Minister Kamal Nath’s son, Nakul. Shah is understood to share a good rapport with tribal voters. However, critics claim that his influence is limited to the Junnardev Assembly seat.
The saffron party named Vivek Sahu to contest the Assembly bypoll from Chhindwara against Congress’s Kamal Nath.
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