In fact party nominated Deepak Joshi for the post. But defying the party mandate Paras Jain has announced his decision to contest for the Bharat Scouts post. This created an unprecedented embarrassing situation for the ruling party. The party has asked BJP Vice-president Vijesh Lunawat and general secretary Arvind Bhadoria to sort out the problem. So far their efforts have failed. Not only Paras Jain and Deepak Joshi but several other BJP leaders have also filed nominations for the Chief Commissioner's post. Besides the post of chief commissioner Deepak Joshi has also filed his nomination for the post of the president.

Apart from Joshi, many other influential leaders are also in the field for the post of president. Similarly many BJP leaders have also filed their nomination for the post of vice-president of the State Bharat Scouts. This situation proves how hollow is the BJP's claim of being a party with a difference.

Besides Bharat Scouts, the BJP is finding it difficult in selecting its nominee for the by poll in Maihar Vidhan Sabha Constituency. The Maihar seat was rendered vacant following the resignation of the sitting Congress MLA. Congress MLA Narayan Tripathi joined the BJP and is likely to be sponsored for the by-election. It appears the BJP has not been able to locate a strong party worker to contest the election. In fact BJP has been losing this seat largely because it does not have a local powerful party leader to deliver the goods. It is a well-known fact that Tripathi's resignation from the Congress was manipulated by the BJP. Thus BJP will have to depend on a defector for defeating the Congress nominee. After losing Ratlam-Jhabua parliamentary seat and also several local bodies, the BJP and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan in particular are taking Maihar very seriously. Ratlam-Jhabua and local bodies' defeat are considered to be beginning of the erosion in Chief Minister's popularity.

Though the dates for the Maihar by-election are yet to be announced, Chauhan has paid two extensive visits to Maihar. During his visits he announced several schemes for the development of the constituency. During one such visit, he spent night at the Maihar constituency itself and had large scale consultation with the local leaders.

Not only BJP even the Congress is likely to sponsor a defector as its candidate. Indication to this effect was given when Manish Patel, who had contested 2013 Assembly elections from Maihar seat as a candidate of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) joined the Congress on January 8. Patel was in touch with Congress for a long time. BJP too tried to contact Patel but he decided to join Congress.

Patel took membership of the Congress in the presence of Congress State President Arun Yadav and then he went to the residence of former leader of opposition Ajay Singh to meet him. Singh has been given charge of Maihar Assembly elections by the Congress.

Congress is likely to field Patel as its candidate in the by-election. Patel said he is not for sale and he had joined Congress because of its good policies. He said Congress is going to win in Maihar. He said he did not join Congress on condition of getting ticket for elections.

In the Assembly elections. Patel stood at the third position. He got more than 40,000 votes and BJP candidate Rajesh Maharaj merely got 1000 votes more than him. Patel, who is mainly a builder in Mumbai, has his ancestral house in Maihar. He also has a school here.

As far as the ratio of population is concerned, Patels are the second biggest community in Maihar after Brahmins. This has made Congress bet on him. BJP too tried to bring Patel in the party but it was not ready to make him party candidate. BJP is going to field Narayan Tripathi.

Meanwhile Nandkumar Chauhan, president of the State BJP has been elected for another term. Nandkumar Chauhan's re-election is considered to be the victory of Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chauhan. Both the Chauhans are considered to be an excellent team having good and effective rapport between the two. While the re-election of Nandkumar Chauhan has been a smooth affair, the same is not the case with the formation of districts units of the 51 districts. Reports of protests have come from more than two dozen districts. The reports indicate that some districts units have been formed in an arbitrary manner ignoring the sentiments of local party workers. (IPA Service)