Second candidates’ list proof that BJP has played last bet of false hope: Kamal Nath
Former MP CM says the BJP's candidate list had exposed the “hollow claims” of Madhya Pradesh's development as a "white lie"
As the BJP released its second list of 39 candidates for the Madhya Pradesh assembly battle, state Congress chief Kamal Nath claimed the ruling party has accepted defeat and played its "last bet of false hope".
In the second list issued on Monday (September 25) night, the BJP fielded seven Lok Sabha members including three Union ministers as well as its influential party general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya.
Kamal Nath immediately pounced on the list to insist that the BJP had virtually accepted its rout because it had been forced to field heavyweights to take on a resurgent Congress.
In a post on X, he said: “The candidates' list of the BJP, which claims to have crores of party workers, is surely a stamp on the party's internal defeat and refutes the claims of development during the eighteen-and-a-half years of BJP government and more than 15 years of (chief minister) Shivraj (Singh Chouhan) rule.”
Besides Union ministers Faggan Singh Kulaste, Prahlad Singh Patel and Narendra Singh Tomar, the BJP has fielded four Lok Sabha members Rakesh Singh, Riti Pathak, Ganesh Singh and Udaypratap Singh for the assembly polls.
Hollow claims
Nath, a former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh and a former Union minister, said the candidate list had also exposed the “hollow claims” of the state's development as a "white lie".
The BJP has so far declared candidates for 78 out of the total 230 seats in Madhya Pradesh. The first list that came out in August also had 39 names.
In 2018, the Congress won 114 seats and the BJP 109.
The Congress then formed government under Kamal Nath but it collapsed in March 2020 after a rebellion by MLAs loyal to Jyotiraditya Scindia, paving the way for Chouhan to return as chief minister.
Following byelections after the rebellion, the BJP now has 126 MLAs in the 230-member House. The Congress has 96 legislators.
(With inputs from agencies)
