Will BJP field Scindia in Madhya Pradesh assembly elections?
Bhopal (IANS). There is intense speculation in the political circles of Madhya Pradesh whether Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, who joined BJP from Congress in March 2020, will contest the assembly elections to be held on November 17?
The discussion intensified after the BJP fielded several stalwarts in its second list for the assembly elections, including three Union ministers – Narendra Singh Tomar, Prahlad Patel and Faggan Singh Kulaste as well as party national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya was also included.
With this, the race for the post of Chief Minister has started in Madhya Pradesh BJP.
The chances of Scindia’s candidature in the assembly elections increased further when his aunt and Minister of State Yashodhara Raje Scindia announced that she would not contest the November 17 elections.
His decision intensified the discussion that perhaps he has vacated the Shivpuri assembly seat for his nephew. The special thing is that BJP has not yet declared its candidate from Shivpuri.
According to political observers, given that Scindia’s supporters always wanted to project him as the next Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, there is a strong possibility that he will contest the elections.
A political observer said, “If the BJP retains power, all the veterans who won the elections will put themselves forward for the CM post. If Scindia does not contest the elections, he will be out of this race, hence Scindia can contest the elections.”
Political observers also feel that the contest between BJP and Congress will be very close and the saffron party will try to win all its strong seats and hence will field the strongest candidates.
“Despite having the additional responsibility of the elections, Tomar has already been fielded,” said a political observer. Therefore, BJP may not give special privileges to Scindia, who comes from the same region. Secondly, with the combination of Scindia and Tomar, BJP will try to win maximum seats in the Gwalior-Chambal region.”
Fielding Scindia as a candidate could also be the BJP’s plan to field him to counter the strategy of the opposition led by two veteran Congress leaders – Kamal Nath and Digvijay Singh.
More importantly, Scindia’s candidature will also give rise to political rivalry between ‘Raja Saheb’ (Digvijay Singh) and ‘Maharaja Saheb’ (Scindia).
Digvijay Singh has already handed over the responsibility of Gwalior-Chambal strategy to his son Jaivardhan Singh. He has also brought back many Scindia loyalists to the Congress.
The BJP has so far announced 136 candidates for the 230 assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh, where voting will be held on November 17. Counting of votes will take place on December 3 along with Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram.
