By L S Herdenia
BHOPAL: Two former Chief Ministers and one Union Minister are among the candidates who will seek people’s mandate on May 7 in Madhya Pradesh. They are Digvijay Singh who is contesting from Rajgarh, which is his home constituency and the other former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, who is contesting from Vidisha. Jyotiraditya Scindia, who is among the candidates from Guna is contesting as BJP candidate. In 2019 he was nominated by the Congress and lost.
Both Digvijay Singh and Shivraj Singh Chauhan are contesting for Lok Sabha after a gap of two decades. Digvijay Singh did not contest any election to Lok Sabha since 2003. In 2003 he lost power. As chief minister in the state. After that he announced that he will not contest any election for the next ten years. Till 1993 he was a member of Lok Sabha from Rajgarh. In 1993 Congress came to power and Digvijay Singh became the Chief Minister. He completed two terms and the Congress lost power in 2003. The BJP defeated the Congress under the leadership of Uma Bharati.
After his defeat in 2003 he announced that he will not contest any election for the next ten years. But he contested from Bhopal in 2019 and was defeated. He however was nominated for Rajya Sabha. At present he was in the midst of second Raj Sabha term. He reluctantly agreed to contest for Lok Sabha at the age of 77 . He has good chances to get elected to the lower house. His son who is MLA is campaigning for his father.
As for Shivraj Singh is concerned, he is certain to win from Vidisha. He too was a member of Lok Sabha when he was selected by L.K. Advani for the Chief Ministership in 2005 to succeed Babulal Gaur. Babulal Gaur succeeded Uma Bharati. From 2005 he continued to be Chief Minister till 2018 when the BJP lost power in 2018. But after a gap of less than two years he again became Chief Minister when with the help of Jyotiraditya Scindia who defected with his supporters, BJP came back to power Shivraj was hopeful that the BJP high command will again make him Chief Minister as due to his strategy the BJP again registered victory in 2023.Assembly polls But instead it was decided to make Dr. Mohan Yadav Chief Minister. But during his tour Prime Minister assured him that he would take Shivraj to New Delhi and asked him to contest from Vidisha his old Constituency.
Jyotiraditya Scindia too is trying his luck from Guna, which happens to be his old constituency He lost it in 2019. He contested as Congress candidate. This time he is contesting as BJP candidate and hopes to win. Scindia belongs to royal family which has never tasted defeat. In fact Jyotiraditya’s father Madhav Rao Scindia defeated Atal Behari Vajpayee from Gwalior.
Besides Guna, Vidisha and Rajgarh, the other constituencies which will go to poll on May 7 are Bhopal, Gwalior, Morena, Sagar and Betul. Last time Bhopal was won by Congress was in the year 1984 after the tragedy of Gas disaster. After that it is always BJP. At present BJP has sponsored Alok Sharma who was defeated in the recently held Vidhan Sabha election. Congress has given ticket to a almost unknown party man who is certainly to loose. Gwalior has always been a BJP stronghold but this time Congress is giving a tough fight. Similarly Congress hopes to win Morena largely because, it is not regarded as Scindia’s bastion.
Betul is a tribal seat. The reports indicate that there are fifty-fifty chance both for Congress and BJP. Before Betul became tribal seat it was a general constituency. It twice elected Muslim despite there was no large Muslim presence in the areas.
Meanwhile Congress continued to suffer setback due to defection. Besides withdrawal by Congress candidate from prestigious. Indore Lok Sabha, three sitting MLAs have left the Congress to join the BJP. They are Kamlesh Shah, a Kamal Nath Loyalist, Ram Niwar Rawal a well known Digvijay follower and latest NirmalSapre who just defected on May 5. BJP claim many more Congress leaders are still in the waiting. (IPA Service)
