Turncoat calling shots in MP bypoll

Shivpuri, MP, May 31 (UNI) The candidature of former Congress leader Ganesh Ram Gautam as the saffron party nominee in this Scindia fiefdom for an Assembly bypoll is causing heartburn among the rank and file of Madhya Pradesh's ruling BJP.

Campaigning for the June 2 polling, with 15 candidates -- including ten independents -- in the fray, formally draws to a close this evening.

After initial hiccups, the BJP cadre plunged into the campaign with Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and other BJP bigwigs holding several rounds of meetings to convince field workers about the strategy behind fielding an ex-Congress leader.

Shivpuri fell vacant due to the resignation of then state Tourism Minister Yashodhara Raje Scindia (BJP) following her election to the Lok Sabha from Gwalior in a bypoll.

The Congress fielded businessman Virendra Raghuvanshi, considered close to the high-profile party MP and Scindia scion Jyotiraditya, to take on his former party colleague.

Backwardness of this constituency, a pocket borough of the former Scindia royals, is evident from the fact that a local youth Ashok Kumar Yadav on Tuesday climbed a mobile communications tower and threatened to commit suicide, enacting a scene similar to one in the Hindi blockbuster 'Sholay', to press a demand for setting up factories in the area.

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