A senior BJP leader on March 17 said he would think of contesting as an independent candidate if Lok Sabha Speaker and Indore MP Sumitra Mahajan was renominated from the seat in 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Senior BJP leader Satyanarayan (79), also known as Sattan, claimed Ms. Mahajan had not been in touch with party workers in Indore and they were upset over this.
Ms. Mahajan, affectionately called tai (sister) in the city, has retained the seat since 1989 when she defeated former Chief Minister and senior Congressman Prakash Chandra Sethi in a giant-killing act by over 1.11 lakh votes.
“If the party gives a ticket to Mahajan for the ninth time, I will be forced to think of contesting against her as an Independent candidate. Majority of the party workers are unhappy with her as she has not been in touch with them,” Mr. Satyanarayan said. “Though she has been MP eight consecutive times, she has not done any work for which she can be remembered in Indore.”
He said the BJP would be better off choosing general secretary Kailash Vijaywargiya, local MLAs Ramesh Mendola, Usha Thakur or city mayor Malini Gaud as its nominee for Indore.
State BJP spokesperson Umesh Sharma said, “Sattan was one of our big leaders since the Jan Sangh days. I feel we will be able to placate him and he would support the candidate chosen by the party.”
