Madhya Pradesh: Lukewarm response to poll yatra, defections worry BJP brass
Union home minister Amit Shah has repeatedly visited Madhya Pradesh as part of attempts to blunt anti-incumbency and infighting.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s central leadership has again stepped in amid worries over the lukewarm response to the Jan Ashirvad Yatra being undertaken to drum up support ahead of the polls in Madhya Pradesh due this year and a series of defections to the Opposition Congress, functionaries aware of the matter said.
The BJP last month announced the yatra from five places will be taken out without any particular leader leading it unlike in 2008, 2013, and 2018. Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan led the yatra ahead of three previous polls.
A functionary said BJP chief JP Nadda chaired a meeting in Delhi on Monday to discuss the response to the yatra and the defections. The meeting was originally convened for deliberating on the second list of candidates expected to be announced this week.
A second BJP functionary said the leadership was particularly worried over the defection of veterans such as Deepak Joshi, Bhanwarsingh Shekhawat, and Girijashankar Sharma, who have been known for their commitment to the party’s ideology. A two-time lawmaker, Sharma was denied the BJP ticket in the 2013 and 2018 assembly elections.
The BJP has since 2003 been in power in the state, barring 18 months between 2018 and 2020. Union home minister Amit Shah has repeatedly visited Madhya Pradesh as part of attempts to blunt anti-incumbency and infighting. Chouhan last month expanded his Cabinet and inducted three ministers for similar reasons.
Polls in Madhya Pradesh and four other states, which account for roughly 15% of India’s population, are expected to set the tone for the 2024 national elections. The Congress hopes to return to power in Madhya Pradesh. It was voted to power in 2018 but lost it in March 2020 when 22 legislators resigned.
In May, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the Congress will form the next government in the state and win 150 of the 230 seats. The BJP lost power to Congress in Himachal Pradesh in 2022 and Karnataka in May.
A third functionary said the leadership is unhappy over a “not so impressive” response to the yatra. “The participation of people is unsatisfactory...photos and video clips suggest there is not a massive support. The party leadership is getting emails and letters in favour and against local leaders including candidates announced for 39 seats.”
The yatra was flagged off from Chitrakoot on September 3 and it will culminate with a workers’ rally in Bhopal on September 25, the birth anniversary of BJP forerunner Bharatiya Jana Sangh leader Deendayal Upadhyay.
The third functionary said mostly BJP workers and beneficiaries of government schemes were welcoming or participating in the yatra. “The excitement during such yatras ahead of previous elections is missing. There is factionalism.”
He said stones thrown at vehicles during the yatra in Neemuch were brushed aside as an isolated incident related to the Cheetah project affecting the local people but there have been protests at other places too. The functionary said this has also caused much concern.
A section of party workers protested over the selection of the candidate for the Maheshwar seat during the yatra. Residents in Sihora protested over Chouhan’s move to declare Maihar as a new district. Sihora residents have been demanding their area be declared a district too.
In Mahidpur, BJP workers raised slogans against local lawmaker Bahadur Singh Chouhan. Similar protests were reported in places such as Ratlam and Indore.
BJP leader Govind Maloo denied any factionalism and blamed Congress leaders for attempting to disrupt the yatra due to the support it was getting. “People will give a befitting reply to the Congress which failed to do anything for people during its rule.”
