Jabalpur: Despite BJP's landslide victory in Madhya Pradesh, several party leaders including a Union minister, many state cabinet ministers and an MP were defeated.
BJP's prominent tribal leader Union Steel Minister Fagan Singh Kulaste lost to Congress candidate Chain Singh Barkade by 9730 votes. The next big loss in the BJP is Narottam Mishra, former home minister in the Madhya Pradesh cabinet, who lost to Congress candidate Rajendra Bharti from Datia by 7742 votes. BJP MP from Satna, Ganesh Singh was defeated by Siddharth Kushwaha from Congress by 4041 votes.
Gauri Shankar Bisen, former minister in the BJP-led government from Balaghat district, former minister Pradeep Jaiswal and former Ayush Minister of Madhya Pradesh government and Ram Kishore Kavre faced defeat. Former state minister Rampal Singh lost to Devendra Patel of Congress from Silwani assembly seat in Raisen district by 11000 votes.
Former agriculture minister Kamal Patel was defeated by Congress candidate Ramakrishna Donge from Harda seat by 870 votes. Even in Gwalior district, popular BJP leaders namely Maya Singh and Imarti Devi, failed to win even after the BJP wave.
Although the public opinion was in favour of the BJP, the loss suffered by some veteran Congress leaders is quite surprising. These include Tarun Bhanot from Jabalpur West Assembly, Sanjay Sharma from Tendukheda Assembly in Narsapur, PC Sharma from Bhopal South West, Priyavrat Singh from Khilchipur Assembly of Rajgarh district, Kamleshwar Patel from Sihawal Assembly of Sidhi district, Jeetu Patwari from Rao Assembly of Indore, Paras from Ratlam City Assembly.
There are also some popular leaders like Premchand Guddu from Saklecha Alot Assembly, Sajjan Singh Verma from Sonakchh Assembly of Dewas and Dr. Govind Singh from Lahar Assembly of Bhind who were defeated.
According to political analysts, the defeat suffered by veterans has to be attributed to their own personal grounds. The results have indicated that the party banner alone does not ensure victory and the candidate's behavior also matters a lot, they said.
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