- BJP faces threat of anti-incumbency factor
- Presence of senior BJP leaders left field open for contenders for post of Chief Minister
Milind Muzumdar, Indore
Congress is continuously adopting an aggressive attitude on the issues of corruption and law and order. Kamal Nath is contesting elections on these issues. Rahul Gandhi raised many questions in the meeting in Shahdol and Priyanka Gandhi in the meeting in Mandla on Thursday on corruption, atrocities on tribals and failure of the government. Kamal Nath is also continuously aggressive against the state government.
At present, BJP may be ahead in the election campaign but the threat of anti-incumbency is looming over it. In Madhya Pradesh, the ruling BJP is fighting the exact opposite of the last 2018 elections, while Congress is contesting the exact opposite of the 2018 elections this time. In 2018, Congress was contesting elections without a face while the face of BJP was Shivraj Singh Chauhan. This time the face of Congress is Kamal Nath while BJP is contesting the elections with the help of collective leadership by taking forward the popularity of Narendra Modi. Therefore, some questions will affect the elections, obviously the ruling party will have to answer most of the questions.
Congress is going to make the alleged corruption in the current BJP rule its main election issue. The opposition party has claimed that when BJP was in power, Karnataka had a 40 percent commission government, but Madhya Pradesh has a 50 percent commission government. A few months ago, Congress had pasted posters across the state accusing the government of taking 50 percent commission. Congress has also alleged huge irregularities in the construction of ‘Mahakal Lok’ in Ujjain. Congress has also counted more than 250 big scams during the 18 years of BJP rule. Vyapam recruitment and admission scam tops the list of financial scams.
BJP has been in power in Madhya Pradesh since 2003 except for a period of 15 months (December 2018-March 2020) and is facing an anti-incumbency wave. During these 15 months, Congress ruled Madhya Pradesh. In all the years of BJP rule, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan remained the face of the party. In a change in strategy, the BJP has fielded three Union ministers and four Members of Parliament in the state, a move being seen as an attempt to blunt the anti-incumbency wave against four-time chief minister Chouhan. The presence of so many senior BJP leaders has left the field open for contenders for the post of Chief Minister.
Factor of supporters of Scindia
It will be a tough task for Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia to get election tickets for all his key supporters, who left the Congress and joined the BJP along with him in 2020. All of them will have to be accommodated at the expense of dedicated BJP leaders and workers which will definitely create resentment.
Increasing crimes in the state
The rising crime graph, especially incidents against women and members of weaker sections including Dalits and tribals, is a major issue among voters. The incident of a man urinating on a tribal man in Sidhi district shocked the state. In an effort to control the damage, Chief Minister Chouhan washed the feet of the tribal man and apologized to him.
