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‘Districts in green zone to help BJP campaign for MP bypolls’: Congress
Ajay Yadav, Madhya Pradesh Congress spokesperson, said the entire Chambal-Gwalior belt, which has 16 of the 24 constituencies, has been declared a green zone despite the high number of Covid-19 cases there.
The Congress has accused the BJP-led Madhya Pradesh government of putting districts in the green zone to help party leaders campaign for the yet to be announced state assembly bypolls. The principal opposition party, which was in power until two months ago, also complained that the BJP leaders are violating the social distancing norms while out on the campaign trail.
Stressing its point, the Congress highlighted the situation in three regions.
In Gwalior, cases have increased from 72 on May 19 to 107 on May 25; in Morena, they have increased from 38 to 83; while in Bhind they have increased from 25 to 49 during the same period.
Ajay Yadav, Madhya Pradesh Congress spokesperson, said the entire Chambal-Gwalior belt, which has 16 of the 24 constituencies, has been declared a green zone despite the high number of Covid-19 cases there.
“This has been done to allow BJP leaders and their followers to campaign without any hindrance in the region,” he said.
State BJP vice president Vijesh Lunawat said the allegation of the Congress showed that they were giving up already.
“The norms are the same for all. There is no exception for the BJP leaders,” he said.
The bypolls, necessitated by the resignations of 22 Congress MLAs who rebelled against Kamal Nath, are to be held before September.
The 22 rebel MLAs later joined the BJP. The resignations were accepted on March 15 and the elections are to be held within six months. Two seats are vacant because of the death of sitting legislators.
Tulsi Silavat, water resources minister in the Shivraj Singh Chouhan cabinet, who is expected to contest the bypoll from Sanver, the seat he resigned from, visited the constituency last week, accompanied by BJP MP from Indore Shankar Lalwani and MLA Ramesh Mendola.
MP Congress secretary Rakesh Yadav alleged that there was violation of lockdown restrictions and social distancing norms as a crowd surrounded the minister and other leaders. Silawat, however, said the visit had nothing to do with the bypolls and that he was on an official visit to the constituency.
“There was no restriction to move around in my constituency,” he said.
On May 24, state BJP leaders claimed that 200 Congressmen from Sanchi in Raisen district joined the BJP at the state BJP headquarters in Bhopal in presence of ex-minister Prabhuram Chaudhary. The latter is likely to re-contest from Sanchi. On this occasion too, the Congress accused the BJP of ignoring social distancing rules.
The leaders of the BJP and the Congress have held several meetings to prepare for polls in the Gwalior-Chambal region.
Union rural development minister Narendra Singh Tomar, who represents Morena in the Lok Sabha, had several meetings with party workers last week in his constituency. Five of the total six assembly seats in Morena district would go to polls.
Gwalior is another key district with three assembly seats going to polls out of the total six. MP health minister Narottam Mishra and Pradyumn Singh Tomar, who resigned as minister from Kamal Nath government, has held several meetings in the region. Tomar is likely to contest on a BJP ticket from the Gwalior seat.
“The day CM renamed Chambal expressway as Chambal progress way, the party’s campaign in the region started. Leaders are holding small public meetings to inform people about the Congress misrule of 14 months,” Lunawat said.
The Congress has appointed Ashok Singh, former Gwalior mayor as Gwalior district president, and has asked senior party leader Gobind Singh to look after the campaign in the region.
Another prominent Dalit leader of the Gwalior-Bhind region, Phool Singh Bhariya, was given the Rajya Sabha ticket to strengthen the party’s vote base among Dalits in the region. The Congress has also shifted its war room to Gwalior, indicating that the party was preparing for the polls.
“Our biggest challenge is selecting the candidates as the established leaders have joined the BJP. That is an opportunity to prop young leadership in the region,” said a senior Congress leader, who is tasked with candidate selection.
Gwalior-based political analyst, Jayant Singh Tomar, said, “The reason why the BJP is ahead of the Congress in the poll campaign is the fact that there is no confusion in the party on candidates’ selection. Also, the party has to ensure its victory on at least nine seats to retain power. The Congress is struggling in the candidate selection process.”
The strength of the house has been reduced to 206 from 230 because of the resignation by Congress legislators and death of two BJP lawmakers.
The BJP, with 107 legislators, is comfortably ahead of the majority mark of 104.
Yadav said the Congress was confident of the victory despite the ruling party creating hurdles for its leaders to campaign. “The high number of Covid cases have exposed the inability of the Shivraj Singh government to handle any crisis. We worked for welfare of the farmers and downtrodden,” he said.
Lunawat countered by saying that people would vote against the Congress as they were fed up with their misrule of 14 months. He alleged that the Congress rule brought back corruption in transfer and postings.
