The BJP has fielded two-time sitting MP Riti Pathak from the Sidhi Assembly constituency, replacing veteran leader four-time sitting MLA Kedarnath Shukla.
Shukla has probably paid the price for a shameful incident that took place in Sidhi a couple of months back, which sparked a nation-wide outrage after a video of one of his supporters, Pravesh Shukla, urinating on a tribal man named Dashmat Rawat's face went viral on social media.
The incident had not just given the opposition Congress fodder to corner the BJP on the issue of atrocities against tribals, it had also forced Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to go into a damage control mode in view of the upcoming Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh.
By replacing Shukla by Pathak in Sidhi, the BJP seems to have tried to bring down the resentment among the tribal people in the region that grew strong after the pee-gate incident.
CM Chouhan had then called Dashmat Rawat to his residence in Bhopal and even washed his feet. Chouhan had also apologised to him for the inhuman act of the BJP worker.
The house of Pravesh Shukla, who has been booked under National Security Act (NSA), was demolished in full public view soon after the shocking video surfaced on social media.
Interestingly, another twist unfolded on Monday after former BJP district president of Sidhi -- Rajesh Mishra -- resigned from the party's membership.
Highly-placed sources told IANS that Mishra had played a crucial role in making the pee-gate video viral on social media.
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