- Bharat Singh’s ticket fixed but Madan Kushwaha and Mahendra Yadav also in competition
- Ashok Singh, Saheb Singh and Kedar Kansana claim ticket in Congress
Harish Dubey, Gwalior
In view of the assembly elections in the state, the fight for tickets is in its final stage. It is being said that in BJP the responsibility of stamping the tickets is in the hands of Home Minister Amit Shah and the Chief Minister, while in Congress the final whistle will be blown by Kamal Nath and Randeep Singh Surjewala. According to political observers, if dissatisfaction has emerged in BJP for the ticket, then it is still suppressed in Congress. The reason is that BJP has released its list while Congress is still busy in churning.
If we talk about Gwalior district, there are six assembly seats in it, out of which Congress holds four and BJP holds only two. Both the seats of BJP have got the status of ministers in Shivraj government. One seat is occupied by Pradyuman Singh Tomar and the other is occupied by Bharat Singh Kushwaha, but both of them are considered more loyal to their leaders Jyotiraditya Scindia and Narendra Singh Tomar than to the BJP. The tickets of these two are considered confirmed in BJP. Bharat Singh Kushwaha is a Minister of State in the Shivraj government representing Gwalior Rural assembly constituency in the BJP. Mahendra Singh Yadav is against him in the race for ticket. Yadav had once tried to get BJP ticket in this area but did not get the ticket. The third name is that of Madan Kushwaha, who was once an MLA from BSP and has now changed his camp and joined BJP, joining Jyotiraditya. But the buzz is that Bharat Singh will secure the BJP ticket on the strength of Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, bypassing both Mahendra Singh and Madan. Talking about Congress, three leaders from this party are vying for the ticket. Ashok Singh, Saheb Singh Gurjar and Kedar Singh Kansana. Among them, Ashok Singh is the state treasurer of the Congress Party and is considered a confidant of both former Chief Ministers Kamal Nath and Digvijay Singh. Since his return to Congress, Saheb Singh Gurjar has been busy in strengthening his support base by visiting every village of this assembly seat for the last three-four years with the aim of November 23 elections. The third contender, Kedar Singh Kansana, is also trying to create the image of a militant rural leader in anticipation of the ticket.
Only OBC leaders have been becoming MLAs in backward class dominated seats – Talking about electoral mathematics, in 2018 the total voters in Gwalior Rural were 2,42,207, out of which 1,31,515 were male, 1,10,688 were female voters and four were of third gender. This area is dominated by backward classes, that is why the MLA is either from Gurjar or Kushwaha class. Bharat Singh Kushwaha of BJP is a two-time MLA. Before this, Madan Singh Kushwaha has been an MLA from BSP who is now in BJP but every time the Congress party has been in competition. It is a different matter that due to not getting the ticket at the last moment, the candidates have been presenting a tough challenge by defecting.
Last time, after not getting ticket from Congress, Saheb Singh Gurjar joined BSP and gave a tough fight to Bharat Singh of BJP. Bharat Singh could defeat Saheb Singh by only 1,517 votes.
Both parties are in contact to take advantage of the support base of soldier Satendra Ghuriya
In this competition for tickets, one name has also emerged who is trying to make a place among the villagers through public service instead of politics. Satendra Singh Ghuraiya of village Parsen, known as Fauji, has come into the field of public service by serving as a commando in the army. By forming Shitala Mata Team, Satendra has raised 10,000 such volunteers who are ready to provide all kinds of services to the needy people of the area with one voice. Satendra has worked to win the hearts of this class by organizing a series of free medical camps and an all-caste mass marriage ceremony of poor girls in Gwalior Rural. This is the reason why Satendra Singh Ghuraiyya was successful in making his wife Priyanka Ghuraiyya a member of District Panchayat for the first time and later the unopposed Vice President of District Panchayat Gwalior. Both the major parties are in touch with Satendra Singh to ensure their victory in the assembly elections. There is also news that Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and Congress’ state president Kamal Nath have sent an invitation and had a one-to-one discussion with Satendra Singh Ghuriya for Gwalior Rural. It is not yet known which side Fauji Satendra Singh will take.
