Saturday, Apr 27, 2024 | Last Update : 06:50 AM IST
BJP may retain power in Madhya Pradesh with narrow win
For the 230-member Madhya Pradesh Assembly, majority mark is at 116 and the BJP had won 165 seats during the last polls.
New Delhi: Despite claims and slogans, Madhya Pradesh could resemble Gujarat for the BJP as retaining power in this poll-bound state could be by the skin of one’s teeth. While the campaigning is at the peak for the November 28 polling, the ruling BJP’s poll slogan of “abki baar 200 paar” seems to be “too ambitious” even for the party’s poll managers as “anti-incumbency” against the sitting MLAs, including ministers, and anger against the state government for its “too much dependency” on the bureaucrats will be put to test. During the last Assembly polls in Gujarat in 2017, the BJP managed to retain power by bagging 99 seats, seven more than the half mark in the state Assembly.
For the 230-member Madhya Pradesh Assembly, majority mark is at 116 and the BJP had won 165 seats during the last polls.
The BJP had replaced a significant number of its sitting MLAs in an effort to beat anti-incumbency and the party’s star campaigners have been highlighting people-centric schemes initiated by the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led government, while the Opposition has been raking up alleged corruption, unrest among farmers and how most of the government’s schemes have not reached the targeted users.
While the Opposition Congress is giving the saffron party a strong fight, the leaked video clips of party’s state unit chief and former Union minister Kamal Nath has given ammunition to the BJP poll managers in the fag end of the campaigning.
Not only Mr Nath, BJP poll managers have asked party cadre to highlight Congress leader C.P. Jos-hi’s casteist remarks aga-inst PM Narendra Modi and former MP chief minister Uma Bharti.
Infact, the Prime Minister himself raised the issue during campaigning in the state. While addressing a public rally in Mandsaur, he had said, “The Congress is dividing the people... Such a thing is not acceptable. It is a disrespect of democracy.”
Recently, videos of a senior Congress leader has surfaced on social media. Look how they are seeking votes from particular groups in those videos. Such a thing is not acceptable. It is a disrespect of democracy.”
Another star campaigner of the BJP and Uttar Pradesh’s chief minister Yogi Adityanath also raised the issue during his public rallies in the states
