Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The leaders of all political parties have plunged into electioneering in Madhya Pradesh. Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar is the BJP candidate from Dimni in Morena district as well as the party’s star campaigner. Tomar says ups and downs are part of any election, but the BJP will emerge victorious in the end. Free Press interacted with the Union Minister to know his views on various issues.
Excerpts:
FP: Only a few days are left for the election, but the BJP is facing more challenges this time than it did earlier.
Tomar: Every election is challenging. The BJP is a worker-based party, and everyone fights an election as a team. So everybody is working hard to ensure the party’s victory. We will will surely win.
FP: The BJP has not projected anyone as CM candidate. How is it going to have an impact on the poll outcome?
Tomar: The party’s Parliamentary Board takes a decision on the CM face in any election. Such a decision is sometimes taken before the election, and occasionally after it. Shivraj Singh Chouhan is the Chief Minister of the state; and everyone is working together.
FP: You are contesting an assembly election after 20 years. What made the party take such a decision?
Tomar: This is the speciality of the BJP where the organisation decides what should be the role of each partyman. My contesting the election is the party’s decision. I was a minister in the state and made the president of the party’s state unit. Afterwards, I was made its national general secretary. I was again appointed the party’s state unit president and got a berth in the Union cabinet. Now, I am contesting the assembly election. For me, the party is above everything else.
FP: Your name is doing the rounds for the post of the next CM. What will be your role in the coming days?
Tomar: I’ve already told you that the party decides my role. I will always follow the party’s guidelines.
FP: How can you say that the BJP will form the government?
Tomar: The Ladli Behna Yojna is an important factor in this election. There is an undercurrent in favour of the party because of this scheme. Apart from that, there are welfare schemes of the Centre and the state government. We will win the election on the basis of these schemes.
FP: Many opinion polls are saying that the Congress will form the government.
Tomar: Many opinion polls are also saying that the BJP will form the next government. Opinions differ. Our party has lakhs of workers. They, too, have collected feedback. We are interacting with the people. On the basis of what I have seen at grass-roots, I can say the BJP is going to form the next government.
FP: The general elections will be held after the assembly polls. Will the outcome of the Vidhan Sabha elections have an impact on the LS elections?
Tomar: The issues of the assembly elections are different from those of the Lok Sabha polls. Yet the people’s mood indicates that the BJP will win the assembly election. We will also form a government at the Centre with a huge majority after the parliamentary polls.
FP: What are the main issues on which you are contesting the election?
Tomar: We are talking to voters about the projects I have launched as an MP in Dimni constituency. We work for the people, and I have been associated with them this constituency for a long time. These are the things about which we are informing the people.
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