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Madhya Pradesh: No individual to lead BJP’s pre-poll yatra
Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan led the Jan Ashirvad Yatra ahead of elections in the state in 2008, 2013, and 2018
Ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday announced that its Jan Ashirvad Yatra to drum up support ahead of Madhya Pradesh elections due this year will be taken out from five different places 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.
Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar, who is the state BJP election management panel convener, avoided repeated questions at a press conference on why Chauhan was not leading the yatra and about the party’s reluctance in projecting the latter as the chief ministerial candidate. “The party believes in collective and not individual leadership. Chouhan is our chief minister. He will participate in the yatra for at least half the duration...[Union minister] Jyotiraditya Scindia and other party leaders will also do the same....”
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 week 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 quit the party and resigned from the state assembly.
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.
Tomar said the party would raise awareness about the development work undertaken in Madhya Pradesh under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chouhan. “The party is going to retain power and the state will contribute to India’s journey to becoming a developed nation by 2047.”
Tomar said the yatra has been decentralised as a new experiment to cover the maximum distance in 18 days. He said the previous such yatras would span 90 to 92 days. “The yatra will cover 210 assembly constituencies and 10,641 kilometres.”
Shah will flag off the first part of the yatra at Chitrakoot on September 3. The yatra will culminate with a gathering in Bhopal. One million BJP workers are expected to attend the gathering.
State BJP chief VD Sharma said the party has urged Modi to address the gathering. He added the other parts of the yatra will begin from four regions in Mandla (Mahakoshal), Khandwa (Nimad), Ujjain (Malwa), and Sheopur (Gwalior-Chambal) region over the next five days.
Sharma said the party has also requested defence minister Rajnath Singh and BJP chief JP Nadda to flag off the yatra from separate places.
