BHOPAL, 17 November 2003 — The prospects of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming state elections in Madhya Pradesh look likely to be damaged by infighting.

Senior BJP leaders feel the party’s best chance is to bag a maximum number of seats in the Malwa region, which has the most Assembly constituencies in the state. But a number of influential hopefuls were disappointed when the candidates for the Dec. 1 polls were at last announced, and are in a rebellious mood.

Malwa has 65 assembly constituencies, compared to 34 seats in Madhya Bharat (north), 34 in Madhya Bharat (south), 24 in Bundelkhand, 28 in Vindhya and 45 in Mahakaushal regions.

In the last elections, the BJP had bagged a dismal 16 seats in Malwa. Congress won 47.

In this election, many BJP leaders were hoping to turn the tables on Congress by exploiting what they felt was a strong anti-incumbency factor against the Digvijay Singh government.

But in the process of fielding candidates they have alienated some core members and sparked internal differences they can ill afford.

Former MLA Bhanwar Singh Shekhawat, a distant relation of India’s Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, had been confident of the ticket from Indore Assembly constituency No. 5. However, it went to the party’s city unit president Mahendra Hardia.

In New Delhi, senior party leaders like Uma Bharti and Sumitra Mahajan have clearly demarcated their camps, and so have their supporters in Indore.

Two-time MLA Gopikrishna Nema’s supporters have been vocal about their disappointment that Nema was not given the ticket from Indore 3 constituency. Nema was Sumitra Mahajan’s choice, but she had to bow to Uma Bharti’s choice of Rajendra Shukla.

A few days ago, former minister Rajendra Dharkar pitched into the debate by protesting at the delay in announcing the party candidates.

Elsewhere, in Dhar, Hindu Jagran Manch and BJP activists have protested against the candidature of Vikram Verma from Dhar and demanded that another candidate be fielded.

State BJP president, Kailash Joshi, is no longer able to ignore the voices of dissent and has warned potential demonstrators that action will be taken against. He added it was out of the question that candidates would be changed.