Battle in the offing, but fighters missing

BJP & Cong have yet not announced candidates for the 230 assembly seats
in MP, though polls are less than a month away

NEW DELHI: Both major contenders in Madhya Pradesh, the BJP and Congress, are facing an uphill task deciding the candidates’ list for the coming elections.

The parties have finalised names for several of the 230 seats but have not had the heart to announce them. Meanwhile, they are trying to smoothen ruffled feathers resulting from the decisions about prospective candidates.

Infighting particularly afflicts the Congress so much that its prospects, which seemed the brightest in this state, have slid to the bottom, rued a party functionary. The Congress leadership had decided to put Suresh Pachauri in charge “due to his accommodative and flexible approach”.

The idea was that he would be able to carry everyone along. But along the way, Pachauri became a likely contender for the post of chief minister and hence a threat. Pachauri is not much of a mass leader. He is believed to have the support of Kamal Nath, said a Congress leader.

The Congress has so far cleared 70-odd names for the 230-member assembly, a party official said. Even a week after the poll dates being announced, it was struggling to finalise its candidates for the remaining 160 constituencies. It has 40 members in the present assembly.

The BJP too is finding it hard to finalise its candidates. Repeating its performance is unlikely for the BJP which wrested power with a historic three-fourth majority in the 2003 election, ending 10-year Congress rule.

After it prepares the panels of names, they would be discussed at the meeting of the party’s parliamentary board in Delhi slated for October 31, when the filing of nomination in the state starts.

A survey commissioned by BJP reportedly suggested dropping 70 MLAs. Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, however, fears this would create massive resentment. One worry in changing MLAs is that they might flock to Uma Bharti’s Bhartiya Janshakti Party which can make a significant dent to BJP votes. However, central leaders say her clout is limited to Bundelkhand region and would not have a major impact.

Mayawati’s BSP and Samajwadi Party are also eyeing rebels from the Congress and BJP.

The BJP has put its faith in CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s “popularity” to retain power. BJP leaders admit existence of “‘rebel” factors against few party leaders at individual level, but claimed there s no “wave” against the BJP government.

The BJP is trying to sell the view that the current political atmosphere was in its favour because of Chouhan’s increased popularity due to good governance and development across the state. They say the present financial crisis coupled with price-rise and spurt in terrorist activities would go against the Congress-led UPA.

Chouhan has also tried several populist measures. About a dozen conventions have been held for different sections with the aim of consultations before announcing incentives, concessions and new schemes, covering different categories of people right from village-level Kotwar and Patwaris to senior bureaucrats, besides Aanganwadi workers, artisans, farmers, youth, teachers, small scale industries, Scheduled Castes and Forest dwellers.

He has also launched welfare measures like free cycle scheme for village girl students, free textbooks and uniforms for all sections, marriage assistance for poor girls and also taken care to keep on his side government employees, whose annoyance with the Digvijay Singh government, had seemed to have contributed a lot in ensuring BJP victory in 2003.

But all is not well with Chauhan government. Sons of several ministers in his government have face charges of violent crimes with little action being taken against them, thereby sending out a poor image of the government.

Besides, the issues of bijli, sadak, and pani on which BJP won in 2003 are still remain relevant. No major industry has come to the state, while several ministers face corruption charges. Apart from this, his situation has been worsened by his wife, who was caught in sanction of truck scandal.

Sectarian considerations are bound to play a part with minorities unlikely to go with BJP. There was violence against Christians in this state too when unidentified miscreants set fire to a Catholic church in Madhya Pradesh’s Satna district. A church leader said it was an attempt to terrorise Christians ahead of state elections.

The recent arrests of militants of Hindu organisations have set off a political storm with the Madhya Pradesh unit of the Congress using the issue in its election campaign and the BJP and the RSS strongly denying any role in terrorism.

Other players: BSP
Both Congress and BJP will need to take into account the role of other political outfits which have grown in influence. The BSP is the most prominent of them. While it won only two seats last time, its vote share was nearing a significant 11% in the areas it contested. It has already announced over 170 candidates.

The BSP hopes to exploit the disquiet in the traditional ruling parties of the state, the BJP and the Congress, and the people’s disenchantment with them. The growing stature of Mayawati by her projection as the prime minister by the Left parties during the Parliament session on trust vote, even though short-lived, enthused its cadre.

The BSP decision to embrace upper castes catapulted her into the ruling party on its own in Uttar Pradesh and it is trying the same experiment in Madhya Pradesh. It has included a substantial number of Brahmans, Thakurs and OBCs in its list of candidates announced so far.

Uma Bharti
Next to the BSP, it is Uma Bharati who has taken up campaigning in earnest. Although many of the office-bearers of her Bhartiya Janshakti Party deserted her, the leader’s personal appeal is widespread. Bharti has held a massive rally in Bhopal and has started touring the state.

She draws big crowds wherever she goes, adding to the discomfiture of the BJP. She does not talk much about the victory of her party but about defeating the BJP. She is on record as having announced she will retire to Kedarnath in the Himalayas if she is not able to defeat the BJP in Madhya Pradesh.
s_rajesh@dnaindia.net