Senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia on Wednesday said the results of Mungaoli and Kolaras by-elections had underscored that the BJP’s ouster from power was already decided.
Scindia was addressing a press conference at state Congress headquarters at Bhopal, his first after the Congress won both the bypolls whose results were declared on February 28.
Leading an upbeat Congress, Scindia stressed the unity among the party’s top leaders of the state as one of the main reasons for the victory. “These by-elections reflected the unity of the Congress and this will continue,” he said.
The Congress’ victory in Madhya Pradesh comes in the backdrop of victories in two by-elections last year, a good show in the recent municipal elections and victories in three by-elections in neighbouring Rajasthan, giving strength to the feeling among Congress workers that the tide is turning for the party which has been out of power in the state since 2003.
Fielding question on the reduced margin of victory, Scindia, who led the party’s campaign in the by-elections said chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had staked everything to win these bypolls but still lost.
“Chouhan and most of his cabinet colleagues had camped in the area for weeks, money was spent like water, many officials worked in a biased manner, and the chief minister and two of his ministers had to face censure from the election commission due to their electioneering, but ultimately it was a victory of ‘jan bal’ (people’s power) over ‘dhan bal and baahu bal’ (money power and muscle power),” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“Chouhan and most of his cabinet colleagues had camped in the area for weeks, money was spent like water, many officials worked in a biased manner, and the chief minister and two of his ministers had to face censure from the election commission due to their electioneering, but ultimately it was a victory of ‘jan bal’ (people’s power) over ‘dhan bal and baahu bal’ (money power and muscle power),” he said.
{{/usCountry}}On recent decision of state Congress working committee to take a deposit of Rs 50,000 from all those seeking party tickets for the assembly polls, Scindia said he found nothing wrong with the decision but emphasised that “winnability of the candidate will be the only criterion for giving tickets”.
On a question on Congress’ future alliance with Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party which had supported the Congress in these two by-elections, Scindia said he firmly believed that “all like-minded parties should join hands”.