BJP, Cong court rebels to avoid upsets in elections

Rivals wary of those denied tickets as past polls serve reminder of damage

- ARCHIS MOHAN

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress have reached out to rebels to foil possible attempts to upset their apple cart in the upcoming Assembly elections.

Concerned that party rebels could dent its performance in the Hindi heartland states, as they did in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly polls in December 2022, the BJP leadership has in recent days touched base with aspirants whom it has denied tickets. Such workers have now either joined smaller parties to contest elections or announced that they would fight as Independents.

The Congress, aware of how party rebels contesting as Independents in the Rajasthan Assembly polls in 2018 hurt the prospects of its official candidates in over two dozen seats, has launched a similar exercise in the election-bound states, including Telangana. In Madhya Pradesh, for example, in a post on X on October 17, former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh "appealed" to aspirants who were denied tickets to exercise patience and help form a Congress government in the state. Singh indicated that those denied tickets would be accommodated if the Congress came to power in MP.