Datia Bypoll: Infighting within BJP where Congress fields candidate

The Congress has also announced its candidate for the upcoming Datia Assembly bypoll in Madhya Pradesh, a day after the BJP declared its nominee.

The Congress has given the ticket to former MLA Ghanshyam Singh, 72. The state Congress unit had sent only his name to Delhi, which was approved. Singh belongs to Datia’s erstwhile royal family and has earlier been an MLA from Datia. He later shifted to the Sewda seat. He will contest from Datia again after a long gap.

Ghanshyam Singh has been an MLA three times. He is the only leader from Datia district to have won elections from both general seats in the district — twice from Datia and once from Sewda. No other leader has won from both seats. However, he lost the Sewda seat in the 2023 Assembly elections.

A day earlier, the BJP had named Ashutosh Tiwari as its candidate for the Datia bypoll.

Why was Narottam Mishra denied a BJP ticket?

The BJP announced Ashutosh Tiwari as its candidate for the Datia Assembly bypoll on Friday evening. Narottam Mishra, a three-time MLA from Datia, had lost the seat in the last Assembly election.

After not getting the ticket, former Home Minister Dr. Narottam Mishra said: _”I was shown videos on social media of people pouring petrol and kerosene. Such things should not be done. I had also said yesterday that roads should not be blocked. Raise your issues on the party forum.”_

Protests began outside the BJP office in Datia on Friday evening after Tiwari was named instead of Mishra. By Saturday morning, the protests had turned violent.

Shiv Sena (UBT) offers ticket to Narottam

Meanwhile, after being denied a BJP ticket, former state Home Minister Narottam Mishra received an offer from Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) on Saturday to contest the Datia bypoll.

Madhya Pradesh unit chief of Shiv Sena (UBT), Sunil Sharma, said on Saturday that if Mishra accepts the offer, party chief and former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray, party leader Aditya Thackeray, and other senior leaders will campaign for him in Madhya Pradesh.

Sharma said, “After discussing with the party leadership, I have made this offer to Mishra. I have asked Nahar Singh Gaur, head of the party’s MP IT cell, to share a video message of the invitation sent to Mishra on social media.”