Cash-for-vote slur gone, Argal runs for mayor

BHOPAL: Once an accused in the sensational cash-for-vote scandal, five-time BJP MP from Chambal region - Ashok Argal has been named as mayoral candidate for the party from Morena.
Elections to 11 civic bodies in MP including that of Morena Municipal Corporation will be held on August 12 and the result will be announced on August 16. BJP has also named Mina Jonwal as party candidate from Ujjain.
"I was four time MP from Morena and once from Bhind and now I am back home. I will win mayoral contest," ex-MP Argal told TOI over phone. He also said that Delhi's Tees Hazari court has already absolved him of all the charges in the 2008 scandal.
Argal was one of the three BJP MPs whose names had figured in the scandal .He did not get ticket to contest the Lok Sabha elections in 2014 from Bhind. The other two were Faggan Singh Kulaste from Mandla in MP and Mahavir Bhagora from Rajasthan.
All the three BJP MPs had waved wads of currency notes in the Lok Sabha during a trust vote in July 2008 following withdrawal of Left support to Manmohan Singh-led UPA government over the Indo-US civil nuclear deal.
Of these three BJP leaders, Argal was the only sitting MP who was not given ticket from Bhind, the seat that he had represented in 2009 after the scandal. Kulaste was sent to Rajya Sabha post the controversy and he won last year in the Lok Sabha polls from Mandla.
About being denied a ticket in 2014 from Bhind, Argal said, "It was a different political scenario. Former IAS officer Dr Bhagirath Prasad had just joined the party, which gave him ticket from Bhind."
Elections to 11 civic bodies in MP including that of Morena Municipal Corporation will be held on August 12 and the result will be announced on August 16.