Bhopal: While the Congress is dithering on chalking out a concrete plan for Lok Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seems to have an edge on the strategy front.
Riding the Modi wave, the BJP had won 27 of the 29 Lok Sabha seats in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, but Congress added one more to its tally after a bypoll in 2015.
Five-years down the line and after losing power in the November 2018 assembly elections, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the BJP seem to have done some introspection.
The Sangh Parivar has stitched a solid plan to reverse its assembly election set back.
The RSS strategy is simple - to throw its entire might to the BJP campaign. It has also quelled potential dissent by former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who is reportedly being given a cold shoulder by senior leaders after the assembly poll debacle.
In a bid to mobilise RSS leaders and cadre, a meeting of senior functionaries was held earlier this week in state capital’s posh locality Arera Colony.
The meeting was attended by RSS' 'Sarkaryavah' (general secretary) Suresh (Bhaiyaaji) Joshi, state BJP organisational general secretary Suhas Bhagat, BJP national vice president Prabhat Jha and former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
“Let the poll campaign pick up and then we will see what to do. It was a normal meeting with BJP leaders, where we discussed our strategy,” Joshi said in response to queries related to Digvijaya’s candidature from Bhopal.
The RSS has asked the BJP leadership to drop 16 of the party’s 26 sitting Lok Sabha MPs.
In the assembly polls the RSS wanted to drop nearly 100 legislators, but the BJP could deny seats only to 56 MLAs. The Congress had made significant gains in 2018 Assembly elections. Congress secured 40.9 per cent of the votes and 114 seats. The BJP won 109 seats in the 230-member House.
With two seats short of majority, the Congress formed the government with the support of two Bahujan Samajwadi Party MLAs, one Samajwadi Party legislator and four Independents.
As per assembly poll figures, the Congress, which won just two Lok Sabha seats in 2014, is ahead in 11 parliamentary seats.
The Congress has an edge over BJP in Morena, Bhind, Tikamgarh, Shahdol, Mandla, Rajgarh, Dewas, Ratlam, Dhar and Betul.
The party continues to maintain an edge in Chhindwara also, but the BJP is leading in the Guna Lok Sabha seat, which the Congress had won.
The Congress feels that it may win more than 20 of the 29 Lok Sabha seats, if it could wrest Bhopal, Indore and Vidisha from the BJP.
“Congress has not won these three seats (Bhopal, Indore and Vidisha) since 1984. So if we win these seats, the party can get over 20 seats,” Digvijaya Singh said.
He is the Congress candidate from Bhopal.
The BJP has an edge in 17 Lok Sabha seats - Guna, Sagar, Damoh, Khajuraho, Satna, Rewa, Sidhi, Jabalpur, Balaghat, Hoshangabad, Vidisha, Bhopal, Ujjain, Mandsaur, Indore, Khargone and Khandwa.
But the BJP's worry is that it may lose more than 11 seats in the state going by the voting pattern ion the Assembly poll.
Rift in Congress
Meanwhile, the Congress government has blamed the previous BJP dispensation for invoking the draconian National Security Act (NSA) against those suspected of offences like cow slaughter. But the Congress remains a divided house on the issue.
Slapping NSA in cases of suspected cow slaughter was wrong and would not be repeated, Chief Minister Kamal Nath said.
In February, the law enforcement authorities had invoked the NSA against five people.
The action was condemned by Congress MLA from Bhopal–South, Arif Masood, but the state’s home minister Bala Bachchan welcomed it.
“If the government is taking action on cow slaughter, it must act against cow vigilantes as well,” Masood said.
“We are following our election manifesto. If anyone indulges in the killing of cows, we will take the same action against them. The police will continue its action to deal with cow slaughter offenders in future too,” Bachchan said.
The Nath government has promised to set up cowsheds in all 23,000 panchayats. Last month, the government allotted Rs 450 crore to start 1,000 cowsheds.
Former Union minister Salman Khurshid has demanded a clarification by the the Kamal Nath government on the issue. Digvijaya Singh was also of the view that slapping NSA in such cases was inappropriate.
The MP government’s move also found a special mention at a convention organised by the Congress’s minority cell in Delhi.
Though the Congress president Rahul Gandhi kept mum, the party’s minority cell lodged a protest.
While the convention was in progress, Madhya Pradesh Police slapped NSA against two more persons in Agar-Malwa district for illegally transporting cows.
As expected, the BJP has welcomed the move.
“Those who are opposing the decision are trying to save criminals,” BJP MLA Rameshwar Sharma said.
The Congress government is keen to outdo the BJP in the name of cow protection by pursuing a soft Hindutva line.
It remains to be seen how the rift in Congress relate to the issue will play out in Lok Sabha polls.
Polling will be held in Madhya Pradesh in four phases from April 29.
Read more: Election calendar
