Discontent explodes in BJP's MP unit

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s in-house theatrics over Bhopal Lok Sabha constituency seems to have not ended with Lal Krishna Advani’s reluctant acceptance of the party’s diktat to contest from Gandhinagar in Gujarat.

After the patriarch opted out of Bhopal, the BJP has finally fielded Alok Sanjar – hitherto a little-known ‘office-secretary’ at the party’s headquarters in Madhya Pradesh capital – as its bet for the prestigious constituency. 

As the party brushed aside claims of several local heavyweights to pick him, Sanjar’s prospect has already been overshadowed by possibility of sabotage.

The local BJP heavyweights, who had staked claim on Bhopal LS constituency, included Krishna, the mayor of the city and the daughter-in-law of the state Home Minister Babulal Gaur.

Gaur was also the chief minister of the state for about a year before Shivraj Singh Chouhan took over in 2005. The veteran leader used his clout to the hilt to lobby for his daughter-in-law, but failed to secure the party’s nomination for her.