Madhya Pradesh: Scindia, Kamal between Chouhan and sweep hopes

The main architect of the 2003 and 2004 victories, Uma Bharati, was sidelined.

Buoyed by its victory in the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections, ruling BJP in the state made ‘Mission 29’ its motto for general elections, hoping to ride on the popularity of prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s governance record of 10 years.

Friday will prove how close the party is to the target, though it has reasons to believe it could at least repeat its best-ever performance, 25 of 29, in 2004 following an impressive victory in the state elections in 2003.

The main architect of the 2003 and 2004 victories, Uma Bharati, was sidelined and Chouhan, who became CM in November 2005, has more than filled her shoes though he would like to forget the 2009 Lok Sabha tally of 16. A star campaigner now, he addressed over 150 rallies. He addressed more rallies for Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj in Vidisha than any other candidate.

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More than Vidisha, all eyes are on Chhindwara and Guna, the constituencies of Union Ministers and Congress candidates Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia respectively, where the so-called “Narendra Modi wave” will be on test.

Modi did not campaign in Chhindwara but BJP did take the fight to Nath, who has represented the seat for more than three decades. Modi’s rally was cancelled amid different versions but Chouhan and Swaraj addressed rallies in Chhindwara, which recorded a turnout of 79 per cent, the highest in the state.

Modi did campaign for former Bajrang Dal chief Jaibhai Singh Pavaiyya in Guna, represented by Scindia for last three terms.The results in Malwa-Nimad will reflect not only on Modi’s popularity but also the RSS whose cadres campaigned actively, dropping all pretence of being apolitical. The BJP had won handsomely in the region in the recent assembly elections, and hopes to wrest seats from the Congress.

BJP’s Sumitra Mahajan is hoping to enter record books by winning for the eighth time in a row from Indore, a feat no woman candidate has achieved. Vindhya was the only region that provided solace to the Congress in the 2013 assembly elections. Even that brought to fore factionalism in the Congress with Ajay Singh, son of late CM and former Union Minister Arjun Singh, taking credit by comparing his performance with that of Scindia, Kamal Nath, and former Union Minister Suresh Pachauri.

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Singh wanted to contest from Sidhi, his home district, but had to settle for Satna, held previously by the Bahujan Samaj Party. BSP now has 4 seats in the 230-strong assembly. Samajwadi Party none.

The Aam Aadmi Party is pinning its hopes on Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Alok Agarwal (Khandwa), Rachna Dhingra (Bhopal) and social activist Anil Trivedi (Indore).

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