For the 2014 general elections, the Congress fielded six Members of Legislative Assembly who won the 2013 Madhya Pradesh polls, but this time, the party has not fielded even one.
The reason appears to be the slim lead that the Congress has in the Assembly, as it fears that giving up MLAs to contest the Lok Sabha elections might cost it the state government, say political observers. Explaining the change in the party’s stance, a Congress leader said in 2013 the party won only 58 seats in the 230-member Assembly and, after the defeat, there was a dearth of good candidates willing to jump into the Lok Sabha fray.
“The thinking then was that MLAs who had won had the best chance to win the parliamentary polls, so they were asked to contest. Since the party was in power at the Centre, it bankrolled most of the election expenses and winning MLAs contested as they had nothing to lose,” the leader said, asking not to be named.