Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia was the centre of attention on the 125th Founder’s Day celebration of The Scindia School in Gwalior on October 21, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The scion of the erstwhile Gwalior royal family later showed off his dance moves, as he got onto the stage and danced with the students. Just hours ago, the ruling BJP had released its fifth list of candidates for the November 17 Assembly elections, in which most of Scindia’s prominent loyalists found their names.
For months the Scindia camp had been reeling from infighting besetting the faction-riven state BJP unit. His loyalist leaders, including a slew of legislators, who had crossed over with him from the Congress to the BJP in early 2020, were at odds with the BJP old-timers, who did not take kindly to their shift even though it caused the collapse of the then Kamal Nath-led Congress government.
In recent months, several Scindia-affiliated leaders along with their supporters returned to the Congress fold, even as speculations were rife in state political circles that the BJP veterans will be given poll tickets leaving his loyalists in the cold.
With both the BJP and the Congress now declaring almost all their candidates for the state’s 230 seats, the picture that emerges is that of Scindia’s loyalists being accommodated in both the parties’ lists.
Of Scindia’s 25 key loyalists who had followed him as he switched to the BJP, 18 incumbent MLAs have been repeated by the saffron party in this election. This list includes 10 sitting ministers. They are Pradyuman Singh Tomar (Gwalior), water resources minister Tulsi Silavat (Sanwer, Indore), industrial policy and investment promotion minister Rajvardhan Singh Dattigoan (Badnawar, Dhar), public health and family welfare minister Prabhuram Chaudhary (Sanchi, Raisen), revenue minister Govind Singh Rajput (Surkhi, Sagar), food minister Bisahulal Singh (Anuppur), environment minister Hardeep Singh Dang (Suwasra, Mansaur), panchayat and rural development minister, Mahendra Singh Sisodia (Bamori, Guna), MP State Civil Supplies Corporation chairman Pradyuman Singh Lodhi (Malhara, Chhatarpur), and state PWD minister Suresh Dhakad (Pohari, Shivpuri).
Five sitting Scindia loyalist MLAs fielded again by the BJP are Jaipal Singh Jajji (Ashok Nagar), Kamlesh Jatav (Ambah, Morena), Brajendra Singh Yadav(Mungaoli, Ashok Nagar), Manoj Chaudhary (Hatpipliya, Dewas), and Narayan Patel (Mandhata, Nimad).
Significantly, risking the anger of its disgruntled old-timers, the BJP leadership has even renominated three of Scindia loyalists who had lost the bypolls following their 2020 defection.
They include former minister of women and child development Imarti Devi (Dabra, Gwalior),
Aidal Singh Kansana (Sumawali, Morena) and Raghuraj Singh Kansana (Morena).
Seven Scindia loyalists have also lost their tickets, even though they had won the November 2020 bypolls. They include urban development and housing minister OPS Bhadoria (Mehgaon), Munna Lal Goyal (Gwalior East), Raksha Sanoria (Bhander), and Sumitra Devi Kasdekar (Nepanagar).
Goyal’s supporters staged a protest outside Scindia’s Jai Vilas Palace in Gwalior. Scindia had to come out and sit on the ground to speak to irate partymen to placate them.
Other Scindia loyalists who lost out in the ticket race largely kept silent. Of them, Giriraj Dandotiya (Dimni), Ranveer Jatav (Gohad) and Jaswant Jatav (Karera) had lost their seats in the previous elections.
Interestingly, even in the Congress camp, some of Scindia’s supporters, who left the BJP to return to the grand old party, have managed to land tickets. They include Bodhi Singh Bhagat (Katangi, Balaghat), Samandar Patel (Jawad, Neemuch), and Baijnath Yadav (Kolaras, Shivpuri) who edged out sitting MLA and ex-Scindia loyalist Virendra Raghuvanshi.
The BJP high command has spared Scindia the challenge of contesting the Assembly poll himself, even as it has fielded his cabinet colleagues from MP, including Prahlad Patel (Narsinghpur), Narendra Singh Tomar (Dimni) and Faggan Kulaste (Niwas). BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya has also been fielded even as his son and sitting Indore-3 MLA Akash was dropped as a consequence.
A Scindia loyalist said, “Maharaj ka chal gaya (Scindia’s wishes were fulfilled). He managed to get tickets for all his close supporters. None of the main leaders left his camp. He will also not contest in the election and will not be risking his political career. He is liked by Modi and Amit Shah, they have big plans for him.”
A senior BJP leader said, “The list was purely based on winnability of candidates. We did not see age or any other factor.”
A Congress leader from the Gwalior-Chambal region however said, “Scindia is not out of danger. His loyalists will have to win the election or his political career will be cut to size. His supporters like Govind Singh, Imarti Devi are on a sticky wicket.”
In his reaction, BJP spokesperson Pankaj Chaturvedi said, “Congress doesn’t have any idea of the BJP ideology. It looks at politics from the lens of factions. They (Scindia loyalists) are all BJP workers. Scindia is a senior BJP leader who fulfilled party’s big responsibility.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Union Minister of Steel and Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia during a programme marking the celebration of 125th foundation day of the Scindia School, in Gwalior, Oct. 21, 2023. (PTI Photo) 
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