SAPAKS was registered as a political party as late as on November 5, 2018, but their activities to unite all non-SC/STs under one banner have been going on for a few months.
It is not just the anti-incumbency factor or the Opposition Congress raking up agrarian distress that is giving the ruling BJP a scare in Madhya Pradesh. The band of 'greenhorn politicians', which has sprung up with a formidable force in the last six months, and their spirited candidates — contesting from as many as 170 of the 320 seats from across the state, mostly on their official symbol jhula (swing) — are giving sleepless nights to BJP, at least for now.
A group for former bureaucrats, hailing from upper castes and minorities, they formed SAPAKS, a political outfit, that is fast emerging as a potential threat to the party ruling Madhya Pradesh since 2003. SAPAKS was registered as a political party as late as on November 5, 2018, but their activities to unite all non-SC/STs under one banner have been going on for a few months.
Upper caste Brahmins, Thakurs (Kshatriya), minorities (Muslims, Jains, Christians) and other backward classes (OBCs) have joined hands to protest the SC/ST Atrocities Act which was amended by the Parliament after a Supreme Court judgment a few months ago. SAPAKS was born as a befitting reply to BJP, which was blatantly wooing the backward classes at the cost of others, said its founding president Lalit Shastri, who is no longer with the group.
Seeking reservation on economic basis and disbanding of the Atrocities Act provisions that attract severe punishment without inquiry against the upper castes, SAPAKS has entered the poll arena, gaining emotional backing from the upper castes.
Much before they were recognised as a political party by the ECI, the upper caste and minorities group had displayed its strength at a one-lakh strong rally in Bhopal on September 30, virtually giving Chouhan government the jitters.
Veena Ghanekar, national vice-president of the party and a former IAS official with MP government, told DNA that "if the frightened Chouhan government had not stopped our enthusiastic supporters' vehicles from entering the capital, our real power would have been on show that day in September. "
Stating that the party's manifesto would be released soon, Ghanekar said: "Chouhan was openly threatening other castes by saying 'so far as he remains CM no one would dare to touch SC/STs and their job reservation." He said it is this approach which made some government officials, led by Hiralal Trivedi, a retired IAS officer, to found SAPAKS earlier this year.
According to an estimate, 45-50% of voters barring SC/STs in the state belong to this group.
"We wanted to show our strength but were in two minds. Now in most of the 230 seats we either have our candidates or sympathisers of SAPAKS," Ghanekar said.
A BJP insider admitted that most of the SAPAKS white collared members were BJP voters and the new party and its alliances at local levels have become a challenge for the party. The anti-Chouhan undercurrent has been articulated by this group very intelligently, he admitted.
Even after the deadline for withdrawal of nominations getting over, a large number of BJP and Congress rebels still remain in the fray, Though the top brass of these parties tried their best to convince the rebels, the latter are hellbent on ruining the fortunes of the party's official candidates, at least in some seats.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "SHIVRAJ SINGH CHAUHAN-JYOTIRADITYA SCINDIA")
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}