2018 assembly elections could be called as the semi-final of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. BJP has seen how worst it was for them in Gujarat and Karnataka. Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are three other big states which will go to polls this year. Out of these three, Madhya Pradesh is the most prominent one as BJP has consecutively won three assembly elections in spite of the factors like Vyapam scam and anti-incumbency, but Congress does have a chance to bounce back in this state. If Congress makes a comeback in Madhya Pradesh, it might add some numbers for the party in the upcoming 2019 elections. This year, Digvijaya Singh and his wife earned a lot of goodwill from the people with their Narmada Yatra. Singh, 70, his wife Amrita, and former MPs Rameshwar Neekhra and Narayan Singh Amlabe covered a distance of nearly 3,300 km on foot. “The Narmada is the “oldest” river in India”, he had said during his yatra covering 11 assembly constituencies in the state and demanded urgent measures to ensure its revival. This spiritual exercise may have influenced people with religious sentiments. Moreover, Shivraj Singh’s popularity has declined to some extent.
So, the countdown for the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections 2018 has begun and both the national parties, the Indian National Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party are gearing up to conquer the throne of the second largest state of India. Elections are to be held in the month of the November 2018. Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections 2018 are important for both the parties; for Congress, it is a chance to rewrite the history by completing the story of victory which was left incomplete in Gujarat. On the other hand, it is very much important for BJP too as they cannot lose to Congress at this crucial moment when 2019 elections are just around the corner and Karnataka was a very bad experience; also they have to compensate for the damage during the Gujarat elections.
BJP President Amit Shah has announced that Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan would lead the party’s fight in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections 2018. BJP is ruling in MP since 2003 and Chouhan has been the Chief Minister of MP since 2005 — that means Chouhan has ruled the state for more than 13 years; that’s why Amit Shah has no hesitation in coming up with Chouhan’s face for next assembly elections. During his rule, BJP had been alleged of various scams in their pockets. MP government has allotted land worth Rs 500 crore to RSS in various cities by circumventing the rules. It didn’t stop here — they have been alleged with a number of scams including Vyapam, illegal sand mining, Rs 2,500 crore Simhastha scam, dams and ponds scam, mid-day meal scam etc. The scam involved 13 different exams conducted by Vyapam, for the selection of medical students and state government employees, including food inspectors, transport constables, police personnel, school teachers, dairy supply officers and forest guards etc., where the final results were fixed. Around 3.2 million students took the exams each year, many of which were actually paid proxies for other undeserving students. It also included an ‘engine-bogie’ system wherein seating arrangements were manipulated so that a paid smarter student was seated between two others to allow the latter to copy answers from the former. It is one of the major blots on Chouhan’s face. But still, if you look at the overall scenario, in MP, there is no unity among the Congress leaders. They are divided into three major Groups — Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh.
All three leaders have command on their respective areas but all three individually wants to become the King of MP — but it is not possible. Shivraj Singh is a strong leader who is managing in his own style and BJP has unity in Madhya Pradesh. Most probably it will be BJP because even if the people look at the Vyapam scam or other shortcomings of the Shivraj government, they still know that it will be much better than what they had experienced in Digvijaya’s time. Moreover, Congress is having a tough time in MP as it has already lost most of the seats in every election took place here whether it is a by-poll or municipality election. Additionally, there is no face of Congress in MP that can win the election for them. AAP in MP is in its initial stage having no political or people base, they are not even an option here. So I think BJP will retain power.
Madhya Pradesh has major issues like unemployment, roads, electricity, education, and religious topics. However, farmer’s dissatisfaction and their lack of trust in government may cause problems for the party. Besides all circumstances, the youth is highly attracted by PM Modi’s leadership and surely party will be benefitted from this. BJP will be able to win Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh by banking only on Modi, if people decide to ignore Modi as they did in Karnataka, then BJP has no future in 2019. All these states are not having much of minority impact. The Hindutva is deep-rooted and huge money power with the Chief Ministers and other ministers. The mastermind Amit Shah will be playing calculated moves. He will be able to apply Saam Daam Dand Bhed because it is their state government. It would be interesting to watch Modi Magic Vs Congress charisma in MP, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh.
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