Himadri Singh, 32
BJP, Shahdol
“Just like a girl changes her home after marriage”, Himadri Singh says, she switched from the Congress to the BJP, but stayed loyal to Shahdol, the constituency once represented by both her parents and which she has now won by a little more than four lakh votes.
Her father Dalbir Singh and later her mother Rajesh Nandini were Congress MPs from Shahdol. In 2016, after the death of sitting BJP MP Dalpat Singh Paraste, Himadri contested the bypolls, but lost.
Himadri joined the BJP only in March this year, and, a couple of days later, she was announced as its candidate. Her rival Pramila Singh had done the reverse switch: from the BJP to the Congress.
Himadri says the reason she switched was marriage. In 2017, the arts graduate had married BJP leader Narendra Maravi, nearly a year after her defeat in the parliamentary bypolls. Interestingly, her husband had lost to her mother in 2009 general election.
In Parliament, Himadri says she plans to raise the lack of rail connectivity in the region. Asked if the Congress government in the state, which enjoys a thin majority, would survive, Himadri says she is “too young to talk about it and would rather leave this to seniors”.
— Milind Ghatwai