All three BJP candidates for the Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh have won their seats without a single vote being cast.
The three elected members – Telangana BJP Incharge Tarun Chugh, Rajneesh Agrawal, and Mahesh Kewat – clinched the seats after the nomination of the Congress party’s sole candidate, Meenakshi Natarajan, was rejected during scrutiny over technical omissions regarding an active court summons in a Telangana-related matter.
This unexpected win has created a major political storm. It has also turned into a direct comparison between two leaders who both managed party affairs in Telangana: BJP’s Tarun Chugh and Congress’s Meenakshi Natarajan.
The Missing Court Notice
The entire election flipped during the paper-checking stage. The election officer rejected Meenakshi Natarajan’s nomination forms because of a technical error. She had not mentioned a pending court notice in a Hyderabad court. Paradoxically, this court case came from a complaint filed during her time managing Congress affairs in Telangana.
Because her papers were rejected before the deadline, BJP’s Tarun Chugh, Rajneesh Agrawal, and Mahesh Kewat won automatically. Congress lawyers have rushed to the Supreme Court to fight the decision of rejecting her nomination even as Mahesh Kewat is elected, but the political damage is already done.
A Tale of Two Incharge’s
Political onlookers are pointing out the big difference in how both parties are run. When Tarun Chugh was the only BJP in-charge of Telangana, the party grew tremendously at the grassroot level.
In contrast, the way Congress in-charge Natrajan has managed its affairs has faced heavy criticism from its own members. This walkover has made local leaders demand that the central Congress leadership (AICC) fix the internal problems in the Telangana Congress (TPCC). The state unit has been giving mixed signals, showing a deep gap where the party organization and the state government do not seem to be working together.
While AICC may be very angry about this “internal sabotage”, many party workers and local leaders felt that top managers blocked their growth and ruined their ambitions.
BJP Madhya Pradesh leaders said that this information was given by Congress itself. BRS MLA Harish Rao said “Revanth Reddy asked to give the PCC working president position to a certain person.. But Meenakshi Natarajan did not agree It was through that person that the case matter was told to the Madhya Pradesh leaders… The person who stabbed the in-charge in the back is Revanth Reddy”.
Finally Telangana Congress is set to witness major changes.
But those sidelined workers see this disqualification as pure poetic justice. To them, it looks like karma has caught up with the people who forced others to wait in the wings.
While top leaders wait for the Supreme Court’s final judgment on the paperwork, local party workers are left wondering how a safe election was completely lost due to poor management.
