Battle of ex-CMs: Will it be Digvijaya Singh vs Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Bhopal?

The Bhopal Lok Sabha constituency in Madhya Pradesh is likely to witness a showdown between two former chief ministers of the state.

The Indian National Congress on March 24 announced former CM Digvijaya Singh as its candidate from the constituency.

While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has not officially announced its candidate for the seat, it is widely expected that it would field former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan from there. Chouhan has, however, made it clear that he is not keen on contesting the general election.

Earlier reports had suggested that Singh was unhappy about being fielded from Bhopal. He wanted to contest from Rajgarh.

However, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Kamal Nath dismissed the idea of Singh contesting from Rajgarh as a soft option.

Singh has won from the Rajgarh seat twice – in 1984 and 1991. Bhopal, on the other hand, is expected to provide a tough contest, since it has been a BJP bastion for more than three decades.

Singh has not contested an election since 2003. He was deliberately kept away by the Congress in the 2008 and 2013 state polls to avoid a BJP campaign highlighting his shortcomings during his two-term rule.

BJP has held the Bhopal seat since 1989 – winning it consecutively eight times. In 2014, BJP’s Alok Sanjar won the seat with a margin of around 3.7 lakh votes.

However, it may not be a cakewalk for Chouhan either.

In the 2018 Madhya Pradesh state elections, Congress won three out of the seven assembly segments that come under the Bhopal parliamentary constituency. The constituency also has a 20.71 percent.

The possible contest between Singh and Chouhan is expected to be fierce.