Gwalior:

Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said on Sunday that there are some differences among the BJP workers over ticket distribution, but everything is under the party’s control. The angry protest by BJP workers started after the party on Saturday released its fifth list of 92 candidates for Madhya Pradesh assembly polls.

Narendra Singh Tomar told ANI, “The list of all BJP candidates except two seats has been released. All are good candidates. All the party workers have started their work. There are some differences because there are many people asking for tickets. The BJP has the entire situation under control. We will form the government.”

He further said that the Congress can claim its victory, but we are seeking votes on the basis of what we have done.

The BJP on Saturday evening released its fifth list of 92 candidates for the assembly polls, and now the party has declared candidates for 228 out of 230 seats. It is yet to declare candidates for the Guna (scheduled caste) and Vidisha seats.

Union Ministers Narendra Singh Tomar and Prahlad Singh Patel have been fielded from the Dimani and Narsinghpur constituencies respectively. Union Minister Faggan Singh Kulaste will contest from the Niwas seat.

Madhya Pradesh is one of the five states set to hold elections this year. The state is scheduled to vote on November 17, with the vote count taking place on December 3.

Voters will choose legislators from 230 Assembly constituencies.

In the last 2018 assembly elections, Congress won 114 seats with a vote share of 40.89 per cent while the BJP came second and managed to win 109 seats. Its vote share was 41.02 per cent. The Congress came to power with Kamal Nath taking oath as the chief minister but Jyotiraditya Scindia, along with 22 loyalist MLAs, switched over to BJP in 2020.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Bhopal:

Congress leader Kamal Nath today mocked Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan over not being the face of the BJP’s election campaign in Madhya Pradesh. Mr Nath, a former chief minister, said that whenever Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits the state, Mr Chouhan involves him in his “lies”.

“That is why he (PM Modi) has excluded you from the entire election campaign. You are the first Chief Minister in this country, who is the Chief Minister but is not the Chief Minister’s face,” Mr Nath wrote on X, formerly Twitter, hours ahead of PM Modi’s visit to the state today.

The BJP will decide on the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister’s post only after the elections, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had earlier said when asked if Mr Chouhan will continue in the top post.

“Lying Machine”

The “double speed of your lying machine” has troubled both the Prime Minister and the people of Madhya Pradesh, said the post addressing Mr Chouhan.

PM Modi will today address BJP workers in Bhopal to mark the culmination of his party’s ‘Jan Ashirwad Yatras’ ahead of the year-end assembly polls in MP.

Hours before the mega event, Mr Nath posted a list of Mr Chouhan’s “lies”.

“You told him (PM) in Rewa that the farmers’ income has more than doubled, but NITI Aayog report showed that the income of Madhya Pradesh farmers had decreased,” alleged Mr Nath.

In Bhopal, he said, Mr Chouhan handed a wrong leaflet to the Prime Minister that said the petrol price was less than Rs 100 per litre in Madhya Pradesh. He alleged the Chief Minister also lied over gas cylinder prices in his state.

“When the Prime Minister visited Sagar district, you made him say that the Congress government did not pay attention to Bundelkhand whereas the UPA government had given a special Bundelkhand package of Rs 7,200 crore,” added Mr Nath.