Bhopal: Top Bharatiya Janta Party leaders spent hours on Friday discussing party strategy’s for the forthcoming bye-polls in two assembly constituencies in Guna – the Lok Sabha constituency, which Congress MP Jyotiraditya Scindia represents. The discussions focused on how to target Scindia to win the polls.
The meeting also discussed whether a case can be filed against Scindia with Economic Offences Wing or any other probe agency for land-related irregularities. Earlier, BJP leaders had charged Scindia with grabbing land in Gwalior and Shivpuri. National BJP vice-president Prabhat Jha was given the responsibility to collect incriminating documents involving Scindia.
Those who attended the meeting included state public relations minister Narottam Mishra, state higher education minister Jaibhan Singh Pavaiya, state BJP vice-president Arvind Bhadoria, co-organisational general secretary Atul Rai and Shailendra Barua, the BJP organisational secretary of Gwalior division.
It was decided that the party should refrain from launching personal attacks on Scindia during the run-up to Mungaoli and Kolaras bye-polls. The chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has been alleging that Scindias, the erstwhile princely rulers of Gwalior, supported Britishers.
At the meeting, Bhupendra Singh and Barua were of the view that referring to Scindia repeatedly benefits him and therefore the focus should be shifted to developmental issues. The said that the emphasis should be on projecting what Scindia has done for these constituencies and what the state government has done for them.
It was also decided that a Yadav candidate should be fielded from one of the two constituencies. A family member of former MLA Deshraj Singh Yadav may be considered for nomination, sources said. When contacted, Prabhat Jha told Free Press that the meeting was organised in view of bye-elections. “It is necessary to gather evidence about the person before leveling allegations against him,” he said referring to Scindia.
Yashodhara ignored
Surprisingly, sports and youth welfare minister Yashodhararaje Scindia, who is the most influential BJP leader of Guna-Shivpuri area, was kept out of the strategy session. The Scindia clan still exerts influence in the area. Jyotiraditya Scindia is likely to lead the Congress party’s campaign in the two bye-polls and only Yashodhara, who is his aunt, can take on him. But thanks to the factional infighting in the party, Yashodhara’s services are unlikely to be used in the bye-polls.
