New Delhi, Oct 26: Union minister Prahlad Singh Patel on Wednesday filed his nomination papers as the BJP candidate for Narsinghpur assembly constituency. This is the first time that Patel, a five-time MP, will contest the assembly election.

 

It is pertinent to mention that the BJP has fielded three Union ministers and a party national general secretary in the upcoming assembly election in the state. Apart from him, Union Ministers Narendra Singh Tomar and Faggan Singh Kulaste will be contesting in the MP polls.

 

With this, it has become clear that BJP is seen as projecting multiple leaders as potential CM faces as the party is going into an assembly election in Madhya Pradesh without a chief ministerial face for the first time in nearly four decades.

 

After filing his papers on Wednesday, Patel, the Union MoS for food processing, told reporters: "Development means that all facilities that are considered premium are made available to the common man without them asking for it. The Narendra Modi government has done this and we achieved more than what we promised. That is why assurances and promises are not in the dictionary of the BJP."

 

False promises are in the dictionary of the Congress party, he alleged. "It is unfortunate that Congress leaders repeatedly attack our heritage. I am hurt by the comments on the chief minister's Kanya Poojan. With a lot of pain, I have to say that even after Narmada Parikrama, if Digvijaya Singh is not able to accept the strength of women, nothing can be more unfortunate," he said.

 

 

Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan went to Narsinghpur on Wednesday ahead of Patel's nomination-filing and addressed an election meeting. "I am extremely happy and proud that Prahlad Patel is contesting the election from Narsinghpur and I've come for his nomination. God sends everyone for a special purpose. We have also been sent for some reason. I have full faith that Prahlad Patel will create new history in this role. I am confident Patel will win the seat by a record number of votes,"the CM said.

 

 

Since the assembly election of 1990, Narsinghpur has been won by the BJP four times and the Congress thrice. In 2003, Patel's brother Jalem Singh Patel won the seat on a BJP ticket, defeating Congress' then finance minister Ajay Mushran.

Prahlad Patel was once a close ally of former chief minister Uma Bharti. After Bharti's expulsion from the BJP, she floated her new party Bharatiya Jan Shakti (BJS) in 2008 and Jalem Singh contested Narsinghpur on a BJS ticket. He lost and the seat went to the Congress.

Soon the Patels returned to the BJP fold and in 2013, Jalem Singh contested on a BJP ticket and won Narsinghpur by a margin of 48,481 votes. He repeated the victory in 2018 by a margin of 14,903.

However, following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's instructions against dynastic politics in the party, Jalem Singh had to sit out while brother Prahlad was fielded.