Bhopal: A significant political change has happened in the state in a short time of five months. The Congress, which had won 114 seats in the Assembly polls and formed the government, managed to win only one seat in the Lok Sabha elections. The BJP had won 109 seats in assembly polls and it has once again maintained its dominance by winning 28 LS seats. Senior Congress leaders like Digvijaya Singh, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Ajay Singh, Arun Yadav and Kantilal Bhuria lost the election. The magic of Modi and resentment of people against the current government in the state are said to be the reasons behind the BJP getting such a huge lead. The relentless hard work of former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also helped massive win. After the assembly polls, an impression was developed that people were dissatisfied with the MLAs but they want Chouhan as their chief minister. Chouhan campaigned in 12 states including Madhya Pradesh. He addressed 212 election meetings including more than 150 meetings in various parliamentary constituency in MP. He conducted 5 public meetings on an average in each parliamentary constituency.
As far as other leaders are concerned, state BJP president Rakesh Singh, Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Uma Bharati addressed merely 10 to 15 public meetings. The party had prepared a strategy according to which Chouhan was not given ticket to contest Lok Sabha elections so that he could campaign across the state. BJP national president Amit Shah too, sensing the popularity of Chouhan, had given him one plane and a helicopter for his continuous tours. In the Assembly elections in December, the BJP could not form government in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. Former chief ministers Vasundhara Raje Scindia and Raman Singh too did not campaign as vigourously as Chouhan. The Modi wave had a strong influence across the state but the way Chouhan exposed the shortcomings of the state government had a significant impact on the outcome.
The slogan of BJP in MP of ‘Ek Vote Se Do Sarkar’ was effective in the election. People especially the farmers gave votes to BJP candidates to teach a lesson to current Congress government. Congress leaders failed to propagate the statement of Chief Minister Kamal Nath of farm loan waiver to 21 lakh farmers in public. Chouhan’s claim of farmers not getting waiver of farm loan proved stronger than that of Nath. The huge transfers in the state also developed an adverse environment for the state government. Scindia’s limited movements in the state proved dear to the party’s prospects. Scindia did not show interest in campaigning other than his own constituency. He was not even seen in the meetings of Congress national president Rahul Gandhi. Internal conflicts within Congress and BJP’s aggressive stance benefitted the BJP in the elections.
