It’s a cakewalk for erstwhile royals Jyotiraditya Scindia of the Congress and Yashodhara Raje of the BJP in Madhya Pradesh.
‘The Mahal’, as the abode of the Gwalior royals is known in the region, still calls the shots as far as electoral battles are concerned. Although the influence of the erstwhile royal family of the Scindias has waned after the demise of matriarch Vijayaraje and son Madhavrao, the Gwalior-Guna belt remains their fiefdom to a great extent.
No matter the family is divided in rival BJP and Congress camps, it still dominates the political landscape of the region.
So strong is their hold that even the opponents of Vijayaraje’s daughter Yashodhara (BJP nominee from Gwalior) and grandson Jyotiraditya Scindia (Congress candidate from Guna) are flaunting their ‘Mahal’ connect to stay in the reckoning.
The irrepressible Yashodhara has pulled out all the stops to reach out to electors. Despite public proclamation by Jyotiraditya that he would not campaign against his aunt, anyone criss-crossing through Gwalior cannot miss his presence. Huge hoardings showing the Scindia scion seeking support for his Congress colleague Ashok Singh dominate the city’s landscape.
Ashok has also been exploiting his other royal connection to the hilt. Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh, who belongs to the erstwhile Rajgarh royal family, in tow, he has been addressing a series of corner meetings and road shows. Diggy Raja, as he is popularly called, dominates Congress hoardings alongside Jyotiraditya.
Political expediency has compelled Ashok, whose family is a known ‘Mahal’ baiter, to build bridges with Jyotiraditya. His father the late Rajendra Singh, a Congress veteran and former minister, never compromised with the Scindias, senior journalist Rajesh Pathak said.
Despite the Gwalior royal family dominating both the Congress and the BJP in Madhya Pradesh, there are serious misgivings in the local BJP camp about Yashodhara having been kept out of the loop during candidate selection for the recent assembly election.
But the camp is upbeat that she would not only retain her seat but do better than her 2007 victory in a by-election after sitting Congress MP Ram Sewak, who was caught in the cash-for-query scam, had to quit.
Narottam Mishra, the BJP nominee against Jyotiraditya who has no pronounced ‘Mahal’ connection and has risen through the ranks by sheer dint of hard work, is weak. Jyotiraditya has launched a high-voltage campaign and is virtually camping in his constituency. Mishra has been invoking the name of the Scindia family as his campaign material includes hoardings with pictures of Vijayaraje and chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, but that may be of little help.
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