Several sitting BJP MPs are seeking tickets to contest the 28 November Madhya Pradesh Assembly election in order to secure ministerial berths in the state cabinet if the party comes to power again in the state.

The BJP may also field some MPs who have an influence in some Assembly constituencies to negate the anti-incumbency against the state government, sources said. At present, 28 of the 31 Lok Sabha MPs in Madhya Pradesh are from the BJP.

Several senior Lok Sabha MPs of Madhya Pradesh have not secured berths in the Union Council of Ministers. They hope that if they become state legislators they will be accommodated in the Madhya Pradesh ministry.

Bhupendra Singh, Maya Singh, Jaibhan Singh Pawaiya, Rampal Singh, Yashodhara Raje Scindia, Gouri Shankar Bisen and Gopal Bhargava, who are ministers in the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government, had been MPs previously.

Narendra Singh Tomar, MP from Gwalior, and Sushma Swaraj, MP from Vidisha, are ministers in the Narendra Modi Cabinet.

Rajya Sabha MPs Thawar Chand Gehlot and Prakash Javadekar are also ministers in the Union government. Faggan Singh Kulaste and the late Anil Madhav Dave had also been made Union ministers.

Journalist-turned-BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP from Madhya Pradesh, MJ Akbar, who resigned recently due to a slew of #Me Too allegations was also minister in the Union Council of Ministers.

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan is also from Madhya Pradesh. At one time there were eight ministers in the Modi government from the state.

The late Atal Behari Vajpayee’s nephew and MP from Morena constituency Anup Mishra is demanding a ticket from any Assembly constituency of Gwalior district.

Senior IAS officer turned politician and MP from Bhind-Datia constituency, Bhagirath Prasad, is demanding a ticket from Gohad constituency of Bhind district where Happiness minister Lal Singh Arya is an MLA. Prasad had resigned from his post as principal secretary.

Rao Uday Pratap Singh, MP from Hoshangabad-Raisen, wants to contest elections from Hoshangabad Assembly seat. He was first elected from this seat as a Congress candidate but later he joined BJP and contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

MP from Khajuraho Nagendra Singh has also demanded a ticket to contest the Assembly elections from Nagod of Satna district. He was previously a minister in the Madhya Pradesh government.

Bhopal MP Alok Sanjar, Janardan Mishra, MP of Rewa, Bodh Singh Bhagat representing Balaghat, Gyan Singh from Shahdol are demanding tickets to contest Assembly elections.