New Delhi: When it nominated seven MPs, including three Union ministers, and a general secretary for Madhya Pradesh assembly elections and organised whirlwind tours of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP left no room for doubt about its singular resolve to retain power in the state at any cost.
Behind its high-decibel campaign, powered by well-organised party machinery, the BJP also appears to have made a slight departure from its ānext generationā approach to stay ahead of an aggressive Congress and enhance its prospects of securing a majority of seats.
The saffron party seems to have gone a bit easy over age this time by fielding 14 candidates who are 70-plus, with the oldest being 80. In contrast, the opposition Congress has fielded nine septuagenarians for the November 17 polls.
According to political observers, BJPās move to go with warhorses could be the fallout of its drubbing in the Karnataka elections where it apparently picked younger candidates over old-timers like former chief minister Jagadish Shettar (67) and ex-deputy CM K S Eshwarappa, then 74.
The BJP has fielded Nagendra Singh Nagod (80), a former state minister, from the Nagod assembly constituency in Satna district, and Nagendra Singh (79) from Gurh in Rewa district. Gurh also offers a sharp contrast in AAPās Prakhar Pratap Singh, who left his job in the US to enter the fray as the youngest candidate in the state at 25.
Both Nagod and Singh, sitting MLAs, had expressed their unwillingness to fight elections around five months ago, said Jairam Shukla, a political observer and former editor of the monthly magazine āCharavathiā brought out by Pandit Deendayal Vichar Prakashan in MP.
Jayant Malaiya (76) from Damoh, Jagannath Singh Raghuvanshi (75) from Chanderi in Ashok Nagar district, Sitasharan Sharma (73) from Hoshangabad in Narmadapuram, Bisahulal Singh (73) from Anuppur seat, Maya Singh (73) from Gwalior east have also been nominated by the BJP.
The other veterans fielded by the BJP are Hajarilal Dangi (72) from Khilchipur in Rajgarh district, Premshankar Verma (72) from Seoni-Malwa in Narmadapuram, Jaisingh Maravi (71) from Jaitpur in Shahdol district, Gopal Bhargava (71) from Rehli in Sagar district, Ajay Vishnoi (71) from Patan in Jabalpur, Durgalal Vijay (71) from Sheopur seat and Gauri Shankar Bisen (71) from Balaghat.
In 2016, Sartaj Singh (then 76) was transitioned out of the Shivraj Singh Chouhan cabinet reportedly over age. Singh was denied a ticket in the 2018 assembly polls when he was 78. He quit BJP to join Congress and ran for the election from the Hoshangabad seat unsuccessfully. Kusum Mahdele (now 80), then a minister, had also been denied a ticket last time.
The Congress, dubbed by the BJP as a party of worn-out leaders, has set up nine 70-plus candidates, the oldest being 77.