BJP still mum on candidate from Indore, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan's seat

Bhopal: With the BJP not announcing its candidate from Indore in Madhya Pradesh yet, suspense remains as to whether sitting MP and Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan would be renominated. The party declared three candidates Friday. So far, it has announced candidates for 18 out of 29 seats in the state.

The BJP has denied tickets to senior leaders L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi this time, giving rise to speculation that 75-year-old Mahajan, an eight-time MP from Indore, may not be nominated either. When asked whether she had refused ticket, Mahajan, popularly known as `Tai' (elder sister in Marathi), told PTI, "This is a party matter, not to be discussed outside.

The party will take a call. I have said neither `yes' nor `no'. Nobody has spoken to me yet, so I am not in the position to tell you anything. "I am a senior party worker and as of now the responsible local MP, so when elections are around the corner, I have to work for the party. We are holding meetings in different wards of the city," she added. However, a state BJP functionary said on the condition of anonymity that Mahajan's chances appeared bleak.

"As far as I know, Sumitra-ji would not be re-nominated from Indore," he said. The BJP had denied ticket to former chief minister Babulal Gaur and former Union minister Sartaj Singh, both of whom have crossed 75, in the assembly elections in MP last year. In 2014, Mahajan had defeated her Congress rival Satyanarayan Patel by a staggering 4,66,901 votes, the highest victory margin in the state.