Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls: Children of former CMs in fray

With only a few days left for campaigning in Madhya Pradesh, the state is witnessing a tough battle between the BJP and the Congress party, similar to 2018.

With the upcoming assembly poll in Madhya Pradesh, the Congress party and the BJP have been trading barbs at each other. The BJP has been accusing former Congress chief ministers Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh of trying to establish the political career of their children to strengthen the party’s organisation in the state.

Also Read: Voters say four terms too many for Chouhan

However, not just the children of these two but there are others also in the poll fray who carry their parents’ legacy. Let us take a look.

Jaivardhan Singh (Congress)

Raghogadh Assembly constituency in Guna district has been the stronghold of Congress leader Digvijaya Singh’s family. For the November 17 Assembly election, the Congress re-nominated the sitting MLA and Digvijaya Singh’s son Jaivardhan Singh. BJP’s Hirender Singh Bunty Banna will face Jaivardhan Singh who beat his rival by 46,697 votes in the 2013 election. Jaivardhan retained the seat in 2018 by a margin of over 64,000 votes.

During Kamal Nath’s regime, Jaivardhan held the portfolios of Urban Development and Housing. This year, Jaivardhan and his father have been tasked to help the Congress improve its strike rate in the Gwalior-Chambal region.

Dhruv Narayan Singh (BJP)

Dhruv Narayan Singh’s father Govind Narain Singh served as Madhya Pradesh chief minister between 1967 and 1969. Dhruv (64) is contesting from the Bhopal central seat. He had won the same seat in 2008. Despite his win in 2008, the BJP did not give him a ticket in 2013 as his name had cropped up in the RTI activist Shehla Masood’s murder case. According to Indian Express, in February 2012, the CBI arrested designer Zahida Parvez. It was said that she had hired killers to eliminate Masood due to her growing proximity to Dhruv, whom Parvez was allegedly in love with. Dhruv was never prosecuted in the case.

Dhruv was the Chairman of the Bhopal Development Authority from 2003 to 2007. He will be facing incumbent Congress candidate Arif Masood.

Deepak Joshi (Congress)

Deepak Joshi joined Congress after quitting the BJP in 2023. His father Kailash Joshi was the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister of the Janata Party from 1977 to 1978. Joshi is contesting from Khategaon against two-time incumbent MLA Ashish Govind Sharma of the BJP. Joshi joined politics by winning the Bagli Assembly seat in Dewas district in 2003 on a BJP ticket.

In 2008 and 2013, he won from Hatpipliya, his hometown.  He was a minister in the Shivraj Singh Chouhan cabinet till 2018. However, he lost Hatpiplya to the Congress candidate Manoj Choudhary by 13,519 votes in 2018. Choudhary switched over to the BJP with Scindia in 2020 and defeated Joshi again in the following bypoll.

Ajay Singh (Congress)

Ajay Singh’s father Arjun Singh was the former chief minister of the state who later became the Union HRD minister.  Ajay is contesting on a Congress ticket from the Churhat seat in the Vindhya Pradesh region. His father, who was the scion of the small feudal estate of Churhat, was known as an astute politician. Ajay joined politics in 1985. He won the Churhat Vidhan Sabha seat in a bypoll after it was vacated by his father. He retained the seat in 1991 but lost it to the BJP’s Govind Prasad in 1993. He regained the seat in 1998 and became a minister in Digvijaya Singh’s Cabinet. He won the seat again in 2003, 2008 and 2013. However, he lost by 6,402 votes to BJP’s Sharadendu Tiwari in 2018.  They are now again contesting against each other.