According to Congress leaders, Patel led a convoy of over 800 vehicles with his supporters from his hometown Jawad in Neemuch to the party office in the state capital Bhopal.
Speaking to ANI on Friday, CM Chouhan said, “The BJP is completely in the election fray and our preparations are going on. Congress was saying that it would declare their candidate list a year ago, or six months ago but BJP declared its candidate. Our candidates are now in the field.”
BJP released its first list of 21 candidates in Chhattisgarh and 39 candidates in Madhya Pradesh, where it expects a tough contest in the assembly polls later this year.
The announcement comes a day after discussions in the BJP's Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting regarding poll preparations for Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.
The party has fielded its SC Morcha national president, Lal Singh Arya from Gohad in Bhind district, and its national secretary, Omprakash Dhurwey, will contest the poll from Dindori's Shahpura assembly constituency.
The party has released the list of 21 candidates for the 90-member Chhattisgarh Assembly, which includes the name of five women including Laxmi Rajwade, Shakuntala Singh Porthe, Sarla Kosaria, Alka Chandrakar, and Geeta Ghasi Sahu.
With an eye on the upcoming Assembly election in Chhattisgarh, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal will be visiting the state on August 19 to participate in a townhall of the party in Raipur.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has called a meeting of its Central Election Committee (CEC) at the party headquarters on Wednesday evening as part of preparations for assembly polls to five states later this year
According to the list issued by the party on Thursday evening, the names of candidates for seven seats out of 230 have been announced. Of these seven assembly constituencies, two seats are in Rewa, two in Satna, one each in Chhatarpur, Niwari and Morena districts.
The selected women teachers also warned the state government that if their demands were not fulfilled then they would protest against them in the upcoming state assembly polls slated later this year.
With only months to go for the Assembly polls in five states-- Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram-- Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge is planning to hit the ground just after the conclusion of ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament, sources said on Tuesday.
Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath has taken a jibe at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led state government over the weekly off facility granted to police personnel in the state from Monday and called it an election move.