BJP veteran on MP poll ticket: ‘I’m a senior leader, will I go around with folded hands?’

BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya is an unhappy man these days, apparently because he will have to contest the Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls “despite being a senior leader” and ask for votes “with folded hands”.

The veteran leader told his supporters at an event that he was caught off guard when his name appeared on the list of candidates and that he did not have even a “one per cent desire” to contest the polls.

The 67-year-old leader said he had thought he would “deliver speeches at rallies and leave”. However, the party fielding him from the Indore-1 Assembly seat came as a surprise to him.

“No desire to contest polls”

“I am telling you the truth. The party has given me a ticket but I am not happy from within. I had no desire to contest, not even one per cent. There is a mindset to contest. I wanted to go and deliver speeches. I am a senior leader now; where will I go [and ask for votes] with folded hands? I thought I would deliver speeches and leave. That was the plan.”

Vijayvargiya, who has earlier served as the Mayor of Indore and a Madhya Pradesh Cabinet minister, added that he had other plans for the polls. “I had planned to organise eight public meetings daily for the polls — five by helicopter and three by car. I had made a schedule also. But what you think never happens. But this is God’s will. He wants me to contest the elections and go back amid the people again. But I still can’t believe I am a candidate, that I have got a ticket,” he said to loud cheers from his supporters.

While Congress’s Sanjay Shukla is currently the MLA from Indore-1 constituency, Vijayvargiya’s son Akash represents Indore-3 constituency.

BJP strategy for MP

Vijayvargiya, however, said that he would fulfil the party’s expectations to the best of his abilities and that he was fortunate to have got the responsibility. He promised to go to as many houses as possible and asked his supporters to go to the rest on his behalf.

Vijayvargiya is not the only BJP heavyweight contesting the Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls. Union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar, Prahlad Patel, and Faggan Singh Kulaste will be contesting these state polls as well, and so will MPs Rakesh Singh, Ganesh Singh, Riti Pathak, and Uday Pratap Singh.

Besides Vijayvargiya, Patel has also expressed unhappiness over being given a ticket to contest the state polls. This will be Patel’s first Assembly elections.

Political analysts believe the BJP’s move to field heavyweights essentially means it is aware that it is on the back foot in the state. The party is facing a strong anti-incumbency factor in the state.