Bhopal: Union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia’s road show, his maiden one since his elevation to the cabinet minister position, in Gwalior-Chambal region on Wednesday has apparently caused discomfiture in the BJP leadership at the helm in the state, given presence of almost all those ministers in Shivraj Singh Chouhan cabinet who are loyal to Scindia, in the road show, as per a senior BJP leader.
The ministers include Tulsiram Silavat, Govind Singh Rajput, Mahendra Singh Sisodia, Dr Prabhuram Chaudhary, Rajvardhan Singh Dattigaon, Pradhuman Singh Tomar and OPS Bhadauria, as per the leader.
However, Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar, local MPs and MLAs and party workers too were present in the road show.
These state ministers were among then 22 MLAs who defected from the Congress to the BJP in March 2020 to topple the then Congress government headed by Kamal Nath. They stayed in a resort in Bengaluru frustrating all the attempts made by Nath, then chief minister, and several other senior leaders of the party including Digvijaya Singh to contact and woo them back.
Singh went to the extent of flying to Bengalur flanked by then higher education minister Jeetu Patwari and several others where they staged a sit-in at the resort when they were not allowed to enter the resort.
Scindia’s road show comes at a time when BJP is making all out efforts including CM’s Jan Ashirvad Yatras in respective constituencies to better its poll prospects in the ensuing by-polls to a parliamentary seats and three state legislative assembly seats and, of course, in 2023 state assembly polls.
Another party leader said, “Sisodia, Pradhuman Singh Tomar and Bhadauria are from Gwalior-Chambal region and Silavat is district in charge minister of Gwalior. Hence, their presence was expected but presence of almost all the ministers loyal to him in the road show has not gone down well with the party leadership.”
He said there was already unease in a section of party over Scindia camp’s presence in the BJP. “It’s too early to say if March 2020 episode will be repeated in the BJP too. However, this road show is only going to bolster the perception that Scindia camp exists in the BJP as it once existed in the Congress”, he added.
However, state BJP spokesperson Dr Hitesh Bajpai said, “This is a wrong notion that there is any particular camp in the BJP. Scindia’s road show was the party programme, hence all the ministers and party leaders who matter in this context attended the road show. There is no groupism in the party.”
