Madhya Pradesh: A wave-less election, up for grabs | N.D.Sharma

Published on 27-11-2008 In General

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Madhya Pradesh: A wave-less election, up for grabs

Heartening news for Kamal Nath: a British journalist touring Madhya Pradesh to cover the Assembly elections for his news agency remarked that Union Commerce Minister Kamal Nath had made many admirers in Geneva (in the course of his WTO interactions) and they all felt that he deserved to become the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh.

Disheartening news for Kamal Nath: two solid miracles are needed for Kamal Nath to fulfil his ambition; one to catapult the Congress to power in the November 27 poll and the other to make faction leaders in the party agree on his name for the chief ministership.

The Congress leaders have taken every precaution against appearing united even in the thick of the election campaign. Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Jamuna Devi was the chairperson of the committee constituted to prepare a charge-sheet against the BJP government but she abstained herself from the function held by PCC president Suresh Pachauri to release the charge-sheet. Party activists say that the entries regarding corruption charge against a few ministers and bureaucrats were mysteriously deleted at the time of printing of the charge sheet. Could that be the reason for Jamuna Devi's annoyance?

Later, Pachauri was the lone State Congress leader present when Minister of External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee came to Bhopal to release the party's election manifesto. Some of the leaders were canvassing not far from Bhopal at the time but they expressed their inability to come.

Some party men are even questioning Pachauri's motive in fielding a "weak" Congress candidate in Budhni constituency against chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan so that Chauhan could have all the time to campaign in other constituencies. A formidable candidate, like former MLA from Budhni Rajkumar Patel, could have confined Chauhan to his own constituency for most of the time, they argue.

While Pachauri is ploughing a lone furrow, Kamal Nath has taken it upon himself to project himself as the next chief minister. Posters have been on display in Kamal Nath's Chhindwara area telling the people: "your one vote can make Kamal Nath the chief minister, just think it over". This has only hardened the attitude of the other State Congress leaders. The supporters of Pachauri and Union Minister of State Jyotiraditya Scindia scoff at the mention of Kamal Nath as the next chief minister. Scindia, with his youthful appearance and unblemished image, is the most suited to become the chief minister, argue his supporters. Tribal supporters of the party say that the post should go to Jamuna Devi, a tribal, who has kept the BJP government on tenterhooks for five years almost single-handedly.

Pachauri loyalists claim that if the Congress comes to power, it will be because of the leadership provided by Pachauri and he will be the natural choice for the chief ministership. Every one in the party, though, is wary of former chief minister Digvijay Singh's designs. He is considered the wiliest of the present State Congress leaders.

The Congress campaign did pick up as the D-Day was approaching but it did not have the stamp of an organisational strategy. Those of the leaders who are contesting are trammelled in their own constituencies, like Jamuna Devi or former PCC president Subhash Yadav.

Both are former deputy chief ministers. The others appear concerned about the electoral prospects of their own protégés. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi also addressed a few meetings in the State. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was, for inexplicable reasons, made to address a public meeting at Badwani, a tribal district with extremely low rate of literacy. The Congress effort, even though belated, has, in any case, brought the Congress into reckoning. (The joke till some time back was that the Congress was not interested in this election; it was preparing only for the 2013 Assembly polls).

The BJP campaign is being waged primarily by the party's central leaders, Rajnath Singh, Lal Krishna Advani, Murali Manohar Joshi, Sushma Swaraj and others. Among the State leaders, only chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan and State BJP president Narendra Singh Tomar are campaigning. Tomar is not contesting. Chauhan has a "weak" candidate against him in his Budhni constituency. All other State leaders, former chief minister Babulal Gaur, ministers Kailash Vijayvargiya, Anup Mishra, Narottam Mishra, Himmat Kothari, Raghavji, Laxmikant Sharma, et al, have not been able to move out of their own constituencies. The anti-incumbency appears to be taking on the BJP. The people everywhere are raising embarrassing questions, mainly about the lack of drinking water, electricity, roads, absence of teachers in schools and medicines.

The only State leader who has made it a question of life and death for herself is Uma Bharati. She has been constantly on the move for two months, campaigning across the State and lambasting the "corrupt and worthless" government of Chauhan, with the single-minded object of defeating the BJP. In fact, the Congress leaders are having greater expectations from Uma Bharati's performance than their own efforts. The Sadhvi's decision to make Govindacharya head of her Bharatiya Jana Shakti has eclipsed her flippant image. A long time close associate of Advani, Govindacharya sees a hung Assembly after the elections and has identified over a dozen "pro-India, pro-poor" parties for a future alliance. The Sadhvi has put forward candidates in 201 constituencies for a House of 230 members.

The BSP is another major player in this election. It started its preparations much earlier than any other party and is contesting as many seats as the BJP or the Congress, 228 seats each. Its style of campaign is different from those of other parties. It does not subscribe to holding big meetings (except for BSP supremo Mayawati) nor does it believe in releasing a manifesto. It hardly ever interacts with the media. Its campaign mostly comprises personal contacts with the voters followed by small meetings in the house of a local leader to discuss the progress and problems. Mayawati must be having high hopes in Madhya Pradesh. She spent five days in the State and addressed ten public meetings covering the entire State. Never before was she known to have spent so much time in electioneering outside Uttar Pradesh.

Apart from these formidable contenders for power, there are 50-odd more parties in the fray. The number of candidates is 3179, nearly 1400 of them independents. In the absence of a visible wave, the outcome is anybody's guess.

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