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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Mahesh Kewat besides entered the fray soon aft Congress campaigner Meenakshi Natarajan filed her information connected Monday (June 8, 2026), confirming an aggravated contention for 1 of 3 Rajya Sabha seats going to canvass connected June 18.
The sanction of Mr. Kewat, an OBC person from the Bundelkhand portion and chairperson of the State’s Fishermen Welfare Board, was announced precocious connected Sunday aft rounds of meetings of apical State BJP leaders successful Bhopal implicit the play and a motion from the party’s nationalist leadership.
The BJP’s determination pushed the Congress into alert mode with Leader of Opposition successful the Assembly Umang Singhar hosting enactment MLAs and elder leaders implicit meal astatine his residence and to sermon the predetermination strategy. A elder enactment leader, contiguous astatine the meal meeting, said options specified arsenic moving the MLAs to a Congress-ruled State similar Karnataka oregon Telangana are being considered and a study volition sent to the nationalist leadership. “Talks astir moving MLAs to either Bengaluru oregon Hyderabad are going connected arsenic astir 20 of them person said that they person received communications from the BJP with offers,” the person said, requesting anonymity.
The 3 seats that are going to autumn vacant from Madhya Pradesh are presently held by Union Minister George Kurien, BJP MP Sumer Singh Solanki and elder Congress person Digvijaya Singh.
Poised to unafraid 2 seats, the BJP has astir 48 MLA votes to spare, 10 abbreviated of the required minimum votes for 1 spot — 58. The enactment earlier announced nationalist wide caput Tarun Chugh and State portion caput Rajneesh Agrawal arsenic candidates for 2 seats.
The Congress presently has 62 ineligible votes, conscionable capable to unafraid 1 seat. The announcement of Mr. Kewat’s candidature prompted Congress leaders to impeach the BJP of trying to indulge successful horse-trading portion besides asserting that each of its MLAs were backing Ms. Natarajan, a erstwhile Lok Sabha subordinate considered adjacent to enactment person Rahul Gandhi.
M.P. Congress main Jitu Patwari alleged that the BJP’s stance connected the women’s preservation successful Parliament and legislatures was “hollow”. “The BJP had called a peculiar league [of Parliament and the State Assembly] a fewer days agone but contiguous erstwhile a pistillate has got an accidental from the Congress, it fielded the 3rd campaigner contempt having little than required numbers,” helium said aft accompanying Ms. Natarajan during her nomination.
‘Battle of ideology’
Ms. Natarajan, who is besides Congress’s Telangana in-charge, dubbed the predetermination a combat betwixt “Gandhian ideology and the BJP’s divisive politics”. “The BJP has fielded its 3rd campaigner and present this is simply a conflict of ideology for america arsenic good arsenic for antiauthoritarian and law values. This is simply a combat for dignified politics. We volition combat with unity and win,” she said.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav termed Mr. Kewat’s candidature an effort to supply practice to OBC communities. Various different elder BJP leaders expressed assurance that the enactment volition triumph each 3 seats, portion denying charges of horse-trading.
