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Madhya Pradesh Assembly Elections 2018: Sushma Swaraj dashes 'aspirations' of Vidisha voters

The sudden decision of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj not to contest the next election from Vidisha has taken many BJP workers and leaders here by surprise.

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External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj
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Vidisha, a sleepy town and a Lok Sabha constituency in Madhya Pradesh, seldom makes news. But at the height of campaigning for the November 28 Assembly polls in MP, the backward district (aspirational district as per NITI Aayog) and its high profile constituency, is creating ripples.

The sudden decision of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj not to contest the next election from Vidisha has taken many BJP workers and leaders here by surprise. Many of them are upset more than being surprised. Vidisha, 65 kilometres from capital Bhopal and full of agriculture-related activities, has long been held by BJP and is also considered Shivraj Singh's pocket borough.

Sushma, who first fought the election from Vidisha seat in 2009 and won it handsomely by over 3.85 lakh votes, does not much enjoy a good rapport with state BJP leadership, it is said. In the recent ticket distribution for Assembly election, her followers were largely ignored, sources said, adding "Vidisha was a common playground of CM Chouhan and Sushma". "Apparently Chouhan was finding it difficult to cope with the high-profile leader who was sent by party high command from Delhi. Registering a facile win despite being an outsider, she became the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and then kept visiting the constituency off and on. She got a railways project to her constituency but that did not progress much due to lack of interest by the state government.

However, after winning the seat again in 2014 with a big margin of over four lakh votes, this time against Digvijay Singh's brother Lakshman Singh. Sushma was said to have been in the race for the top post of the country but had to be content with external affairs, a ministry largely run by PMO.

She gradually started losing interest in her MP constituency as she would visit Videsh (foreign land) more often than Vidisha. Her visits became infrequent. "We had big expectations of Vidisha's growth by leaps and bounds under a powerful union minister but it remains backward," complained a local trader, citing the example of Kamal Nath who transformed the face of his constituency Chhindwara. "We are quite upset for being treated like this by her," a farm equipment dealer commented.

BJP insiders said CM Chouhan, who represented Vidisha in the Parliament for a number of times, indirectly kept Sushma away from MP politics, just like he had managed to sideline Uma Bharti, among others. "Though she cited ill-health as the reason for bowing out, what was the need to announce it in Madhya Pradesh and that too on the eve of crucial Assembly polls," asked a miffed BJP MLA, on condition of anonymity. Sushmaji could have won from here again without even visiting it in 2019 elections, he argued, adding if she didn't want to contest, she could have disclosed it in April next year, and not now.

Clearly, there is something more than meets the eye, as the timing of announcement reflects more than it hides.

Vidisha has been a strong Jan Sangh-BJP citadel for decades but many local BJP supporters feel that outsiders come here to win an election and then forget about it, a reason why no big industry or other social development has come its way in many years. Earlier this year, the NITI Aayog released a list of country's backward (aspirational) districts and surprisingly Vidisha is among them, despite Chouhan having been elected from here as an MP and MLA and chief minister for over 13 years. After many years' demand, a medical college building was hurriedly inaugurated two months ago.

Former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee too had fought from Vidisha in 1991 but vacated it in favour of Lucknow, after winning from two constituencies. Much before him, came newspaper baron Ramnath Goenka from Mumbai and win on Jan Sangh ticket with ease, but Vidisha remains what it was many decades ago.

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