Datia bypoll: Shiv Sena (UBT) offers ticket to ex-MP minister Mishra

Bhopal, Jul 11 (PTI) The Mumbai-headquartered Shiv Sena (UBT) on Saturday offered to nominate former Madhya Pradesh home minister Narottam Mishra for the Datia assembly bypoll after the BJP denied him a ticket, triggering a rampage by his supporters. Sunil Sharma, the MP head of Sena (UBT), said that if Mishra accepted the offer, his party president and former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and other leaders, including Aaditya Thackeray, would campaign for him in Madhya Pradesh. “I have extended the offer to Mishra after talking to our leadership,” he told PTI over the phone from Mandsaur. “I asked our Madhya Pradesh IT cell chief Nahar Singh Gour to share a video message of the invitation to Mishra on social media,” he added. The Sena (UBT) has 20 MLAs in Maharashtra and three Lok Sabha MPs. It recently suffered a setback after six of its Lok Sabha members crossed over to the ruling Shiv Sena, led by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Eknath Shinde. The offer by Thackeray’s party comes a day after the BJP named Ashutosh Tiwari as its candidate for the July 30 Datia bypoll, sparking protests by Mishra’s supporters. Supporters of the former minister staged demonstrations, blocked a national highway, enforced a market shutdown and locked the local BJP office and allegedly indulged in violence, leaving many policemen injured, after the party announced Tiwari’s candidature. Meanwhile, MP cabinet Kailash Vijayvargiya has ruled out any change in the BJP nominee. The bypoll became necessary after Congress MLA Rajendra Bharti, who had defeated Mishra from Datia in the 2023 assembly elections, was disqualified following his conviction and three-year jail sentence in a cheating case. PTI LAL NR