National

BJP on the back foot in Chambal, Gwalior region

MORENA: The electoral battle in the heart of the Chambal ravines is largely triangular with the Bharatiya Janata Party having to work hard to defend the turf it wrested from the Congress five years ago.

If BSP (bijli, sadak, paani — power, roads and water) was the emotive issue that struck a chord among the voters of Madhya Pradesh in 2003, this time it is the re-emergence of the BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party).

The BJP rode the crest of a wave in 2003 cashing in on the anti-incumbency sentiment against the Congress but now is on the defensive in the Chambal-Gwalior region that elects 34 representatives to the 230-strong State Assembly.

The BJP, then under the leadership of Uma Bharti effectively drove home the state of poor infrastructure in the State and ended the 10-year rule of the Congress under Digvijay Singh. Five years since, the terrain remains as tough but the political landscape has undergone a change. Ms. Uma Bharti has since moved on forming her own Bharatiya Jan Shakti party and fielded candidates to complicate matters for the BJP.

For the BJP, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan is leading a strong battle to check the growing influence of the BSP and a resurgent Congress. In the absence of any dominant issue, politics is truly local and in such a scenario, local poll watchers hold the view that the poll outcome would be determined by the strength of individual candidates plus factors like getting the caste combination right.

In the 2003 elections the BJP won the majority of the seats in the region, including all six Assembly seats in Gwalior. This time both the Congress and the BSP supporters claim their party would emerge number one.

For the Congress, Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, whose family has a grip in the area, is working hard to ensure victory for the party. There is much at a stake for him. This is the second Assembly elections without the guidance of his father Madhavrao Scindia, who rose to national fame trouncing Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the 1984 general elections from Gwalior.

Interestingly, Mr. Vajpayee’s nephew and Minister Anup Mishra is defending Gwalior East. Pitted against him is the BSP’s Brahmin candidate, Brajesh Sharma and Congress’ Munna Lal Goyal, a member of the Vaish Samaj upset with the BJP.

Besides inadequate delivery on poll promises and failing to improve the power, water and roads situation, the BJP is under attack from the Opposition for deterioration in law and order and corruption.

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