This time BJP is giving special focus on Madhya Pradesh. On Thursday, the party has released the first list of candidates. Meanwhile, there is news that Union Home Minister Amit Shah will be on a tour of Madhya Pradesh on Sunday. Here he will issue the report card of the Shivraj government and will preside over the BJP working committee meeting in Gwalior, the constituency of Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia. An official of the party has given information in this regard.
A state BJP leader said that Shah will come here (Bhopal) in the morning of August 20 and will issue the report card of the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government. After this he will leave for Gwalior where he will preside over and address the BJP working committee meeting. BJP insiders said that party MLAs, MPs, district presidents and general secretaries have been asked to reach Gwalior. He said that around 1,200 office bearers have been called in the meeting. Assembly elections are likely to be held in Madhya Pradesh in the next few months.
According to political observers, BJP is trying to do well in Gwalior and Chambal region. After losing the mayor’s election to Congress in Gwalior last year after 57 years, BJP wants to increase its base in this area. This will be Amit Shah’s second visit to the state in less than a month. Earlier on July 30, Shah had visited Indore district, where he addressed the booth level workers.
Congress had won 26 out of 34 seats in Gwalior and Chambal region.
Let us discuss here that in the 2018 assembly elections, Congress won 26 out of 34 seats in Gwalior and Chambal region, then Jyotiraditya Scindia was in Congress. After Scindia defected to the BJP along with his loyalists, the Congress could win only seven out of 19 seats in the November 2020 bypolls in the Gwalior and Chambal regions. A political observer said that after the setback in the mayoral election in Gwalior last year, the BJP now does not want to take any risk.
Special attention of Congress in Gwalior-Chambal
Let us know the reason for Congress’s focus in Gwalior-Chambal. In fact, whether it was the 2018 assembly elections or the 2020 by-elections or the municipal and panchayat elections, the Congress had received tremendous public support in all these formats. If we look at the 2018 elections, the Congress won 26 out of the total 34 seats in 8 districts of Gwalior-Chambal. On the other hand, BJP got 7 seats and BSP got one seat in the last election. Of the 13 seats in the three districts of Chambal division alone, 10 were won by the Congress. After this victory, the Congress came to power in the state.
Congress aims to win more seats in Gwalior-Chambal region
In the 2020 by-elections too, the Congress showed its full strength. By-elections were held on 16 seats in the Gwalior-Chambal region, in which seven seats were won by the Congress. To repeat the results of 2018 and to stop Scindia, the Congress increased the stature of Govind Singh. Govind is said to be from the camp of former Madhya Pradesh CM Digvijay.
Congress did a great performance in this area in the 2022 municipal elections. Gwalior- While performing tremendously in Chambal, the Congress destroyed the strong fort of the ruling BJP. The special thing is that despite the absence of any major Congress leader in Gwalior, the party performed well and got success in making its mayor. The credit for Gwalior’s victory is given to MLA Satish Sikarwar, whose wife Shobha Sikarwar holds the post of mayor. After 57 years in Gwalior, the Congress made a tremendous performance in the BJP’s bastion in the Municipal Corporation elections.
Scindia had rebelled against the Congress
If you remember, the MLAs who were angry with the Congress government had resigned en masse under the leadership of Jyotiraditya Scindia. After this the Kamal Nath government had fallen. These included 9 MLAs from Gwalior division. These MLAs left the Congress and joined the BJP. When the MLAs resigned, the 28 seats on which by-elections were held in November 2020. Scindia, who sought votes for the Congress last time, is seen appealing to people to vote in favor of the BJP this time. Now it has to be seen how much BJP gets the benefit of his appeal.