Omkar Singh Markam Hopes To Win The Mandla Constituency Too (image@IncOmkarSingh)

Congress fielded the sitting MLA of Dindori, Omkar Singh Markam, from Mandla constituency. He will be contesting against the sitting MP of Faggan Singh Kulasate of Bharatiya Janata Party. Markam has won the 2023Madhya Pradesh assembly election with the margin of 12,265 votes. While the Dindori is a strong hold of Markam, Mandla used to be Kulaste’s political forte.

After winning the 2023 assembly election, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav openly asked Omkar Singh Markam to join BJP. Markam, the tribal leader replied that he would rather be in opposition than join BJP.

Yadav said, “Omkar ji, you are sitting at the wrong place, please come with us”. To this Markam replied that, “I would just say that the Chief Minister should focus on development of Madhya Pradesh, and not to worry about me”.

Markam started his political career since young age. He was the founder president of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Committee since 1996. He served as the general secretary of District Youth Congress in 1998. He first won the assembly election in 2008. He won the next three assembly elections consecutively. He served as the cabinet minister in Kamal Nath led government in Madhya Pradesh. He served as the Tribal Department minister.

In 2022, Markam grabbed headlines after body of Tirath Singh was found hanging at his residence at Bhopal. However, the death has nothing to do with Markam. Singh and one of his acquaintances stayed Markam’s residence, as they were from same native place Dindori. The 22-year-old committed suicide as he was suffering from throat cancer, as said in his suicide note.