Congress' Meenakshi Natarajan Files RS Nomination, Hits Out at BJP's Third Candidate Surprise

Congress leader Meenakshi Natarajan filed her nomination on Monday for the Rajya Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh, framing the contest as a battle between "Gandhian ideology and BJP's divisive politics", even as the ruling party moved to make her path to the Upper House anything but certain.

Voting for the three Rajya Sabha seats from Madhya Pradesh is scheduled for June 18 . Natarajan, a former MP from Mandsaur and currently the AICC in-charge for Telangana, was accompanied to the Returning Officer by Leader of Opposition Umang Singhar , state Congress president Jitu Patwari , and former chief minister Digvijaya Singh .

The BJP's challenge comes in the form of Mahesh Kewat , chairman of the Madhya Pradesh Matsya Kalyan Board and a seasoned party functionary with a long organisational background, who was named the party's third candidate on Sunday night by the BJP's Central Election Committee, following a meeting at Chief Minister Mohan Yadav's residence where a consensus was reached and central leadership gave its nod. Kewat also filed his nomination on Monday in the presence of Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, who said the BJP had shown its commitment to all sections of society by providing representation to Kewat in the Upper House.

The arithmetic is awkward for the BJP. With 58 first-preference votes required for a candidate to win and the BJP holding 165 MLAs in the 230-member assembly, the party is comfortably placed to win two seats, but is short of nine MLAs to secure the third. Yet CM Yadav has already said "the third seat will be won, where else would it go?", while senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya had earlier hinted that if the party fielded a third candidate, it would ensure his victory.

That confidence rests partly on Congress's own internal tensions. A section of Congress MLAs is reportedly unhappy with the high command's decision to field Natarajan over local claimants, and party insiders admit the BJP needs just nine extra votes to push Kewat over the line. Patwari and Singhar have dismissed any talk of cross-voting , with Patwari insisting all Congress MLAs have pledged their support and declaring "our candidate will win 500 per cent." He also accused the BJP of fielding a candidate specifically to contradict its own public stance on women's representation and the Women's Reservation Bill .

Natarajan herself was unsparing. She alleged the BJP routinely uses Rajya Sabha elections to poach MLAs and destabilise opposition ranks . "By announcing a candidate for the third seat despite lacking the numbers, the BJP has exposed its tactics, character and face ," she said, adding that its ploy would fail this time. Singhar went further, casting the election as a contest between "Gandhiji's ideology and that of Nathuram Godse."

With nominations closing on Monday and polling ten days away , the contest for the third seat has rapidly become the most closely watched political skirmish in Madhya Pradesh less about numbers, and more about whether Congress can keep its flock together .