An otherwise politically stable and peaceful Madhya Pradesh was alleged, especially after the 2018 assembly elections when the state returned to power after so many years with the Congress party winning an overwhelming majority over the Bharatiya Janata Party with a divided mandate. saw.
After a year of intense political strife, the state saw the cunning Shivraj Singh Chouhan topple the 15-month-old Kamal Nath government, followed by a bitter and spiteful fight in 28 assembly bypolls, where the fight virtually became a personal battle between the Congress party and the Congress. and Jyotiraditya Scindia & Co.
Complaining against Scindia and his men for crushing him, senior Congress leaders campaigned with BJP leaders and proved to be a match for him. However, the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP trounced the spirited Congress party 19-9.
Mainstream political rivals fought another political battle in Damoh earlier this year, as former Congress MLA Rahul Lodhi, who once expressed extreme confidence, joined the BJP in the year 2020 during the end of the political drama Were. As he sought re-nomination. From a relatively backward constituency of Bundelkhand, the Congress party again swiped ‘traitor and sellout’ cards against him.
Congress Party’s Ajay Tandon beats Rahil Lodhi in a crucial but super intense fight as the BJP is left as a divided house with former finance minister Jayant Malaiya and his son Siddharth being accused of being a ‘traitor’ Was.
However, the bye-elections seem to be an endless affair, especially in the current term of the assembly, as Khandwa has three by-elections to be held in addition to one to the Lok Sabha.
Assembly seats fell vacant due to the death of MLAs including Jugul Kishore Bagri (Raigaon), Brijendra Pratap Singh (Prithvipur) and Kalavati Bhuria (Jobat). The Khandwa seat fell vacant after the death of former BJP state president Nandkumar Singh Chouhan.
For the Congress, former Union Minister Arun Yadav has already started preparing for the bypolls, but the story took a turn a few days back when PCC chief Kamal Nath publicly stated that Yadav expressed his curiosity over his candidature. Haven’t spoken.
A Bhopal-based political analyst said it was quite clear that Nath had conveyed to Yadav that mere assurances from top party leaders would not be enough for him to claim the ticket.
The by-elections do not have any significant impact on the BJP government’s majority, but these elections are termed as a tough contest between rival parties before the mega clash in the year 2023.
As always, both the BJP and the Congress party are planning to capitalize on the sympathy wave and the bypolls are likely to bet on the children of the late leaders. However, there are other contenders in both the parties who are not eager to let these plans succeed without any murmurs.
The late Chouhan’s son Harshvardhan Singh is the frontrunner for the Khandwa bypoll, while others like Archana Chitnis and former Indore mayor Krishna Murari Moghe are also keen to give a shot at mainstream politics. Both the senior leaders have been away from active politics for some time.
The restlessness extends to the BJP-held assembly seat of Raigaon, where Pushpraj, son of late MLA Jugal Kishore Bagri, is seen as a major contender for the ticket. Senior BJP leader Gopal Bhargava, who was involved in an ugly spat with the party high command to field his son Abhishek in the by-elections in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, has openly criticized the idea of fielding the late leader’s children. While saying that they can ‘not guarantee victory in by-elections every time’
However, BJP has not yet named anyone for this seat.
For the Congress, which has Prithvipur and Jobat seats, the tried-and-tested emotional card is playing. In Prithvipur, the party is keen on fielding late MLA Brijendra Singh Rathore’s son Nitin, while it could be MP Youth Congress president Vikrant Bhuria, the oldest party at stake in the Jobat seat vacated by the death of Vikrant Can put Bhuria’s cousin Kalavati.
Though there are some contenders, Dr Bhuria, being the youth wing chief and son of former Union minister Kantilal Bhuria, has emerged as the clear choice for the party, a Congress party leader said.
Congress MLA Lakhan Ghanghoria on the matter said that the party is still contemplating candidature for the bypolls and it could be those people who have lost their close relatives and may be pushed to the bypolls, he said.
The Election Commission of India is yet to announce the schedule for the assembly elections, but both the mainstream parties are buzzing with pre-poll activities.
Kamal Nath had already said that the party is conducting a survey to shortlist candidates, claiming that it has been flooded with calls from those willing to contest and those who voluntarily backed out of ticket claims. are departing. Nath has also sacked the heads of three districts of Panna, Bhind and Vidisha as part of the organizational reshuffle.
The comparatively better organized BJP is also active in election mode and state in-charge Murlidhar Rao is reaching Bhopal on 25 July. Shivraj Singh Chouhan met before the by-election meeting to be held in Rao’s presence on July 25. Party co-organization general secretary Shiv Prakash at the BJP headquarters on Friday.
After losing the Damoh bypoll recently, the BJP organization is taking these upcoming bypolls as a serious matter, a senior BJP leader from Bhopal said on condition of anonymity. The ministers in charge have been asked to undertake busy tours of the respective constituencies.
To take the party together as a united unit in the by-elections, the organization has planned to pacify Jyotiraditya Scindia supporters by including them in boards and corporations. Former MLAs, including Imarti Devi, Munalal Goyal, Aidal Singh Kansana and Giriraj Dandotiya, who lost in the bypolls last year, are also expected to be rehabilitated in these political appointments.
Sources said that Scindia supporters including Jaspal Singh Jajji, Pankaj Chaturvedi, Raksha Sironia and Ranveer Jatav may also be rewarded with political appointments soon.
However, for the Congress party, the by-election could be an opportunity to ring alarm bells for the ruling BJP ahead of the mega clash in the year 2023.
After the victory in the Damoh by-election after the death of MLAs in three seats, the BJP had 125 MLAs in the 230 assembly, while the Congress party had 98 MLAs. In addition, there are seven independents in the assembly.
(Inputs from Anurag Srivastava)
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