2019 Lok Sabha elections: ‘Digvijaya offered me Bhopal LS seat,’ claims Babulal Gaur

Bhopal, Jan 24: Ahead of the Lok Sabha Polls, BJP veteran Babulal Gaur on Thursday created a flutter with the claim that he was offered to contest the Lok Sabha polls from Bhopal seat on Congress's ticket.

Gaur announced that the Congress leader Digvijay Singh has offered him a ticket from Bhopal Lok Sabha constituencies and that he was ready to "consider the proposal".

"He (Singh) visited me and offered me to contest polls from Bhopal Lok Sabha seat on Congress ticket. I told him I will think about it,"ANI quoted Gaur as saying.

The development follows reports that the BJP would field senior party leaders from Madhya Pradesh in the Lok Sabha elections, likely to be held in April-May this year, on the "winnability" factor signalling that many veterans may be ignored in ticket allocations by the central leadership of the party.

"There will be major political changes in the coming days, watch out," Gaur said when asked about BJP's plan to give tickets on winnability criteria.

The development also holds significance as the BJP party is often accused of side-lining its veterans. In 2014, LK Advani, the man who played the key role in the BJP's growth from 2 Lok Sabha seats to the first government headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was not given any ministry.

Babulal Gaur is a former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh and a veteran in the state politics.

The 2018 assembly election results in Hindi heartland state of Madhya Pradesh (MP) came as a major shock for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Congress won 114 seats, two short of the majority mark in the 230-member Madhya Pradesh assembly, while the BJP could win only 109 seats in the elections.