Party has moved to make the Congress echo in places where it hasn’t won Assembly seats in 25 years’
The Congress in Madhya Pradesh is actively trying to spread its bases and strengthen them in constituencies which have been bastions of the BJP. Party men say that the grand old party has taken a strategic turn to make the Congress echo in places where it hasn’t been able to win Assembly seats in around 25 years.
The responsibility to wrest seats in BJP dominated areas from the saffron camp has been given to the ex-Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh who is believed to have identified several constituencies where independent candidates can be inducted in the party to boost its electoral prospects. A Congress spokesperson in Madhya Pradesh said, “We are trying to weaken the BJP in places where it is super strong. There are around 66 Assembly constituencies in the state where the saffron camp has not lost the elections in more than two decades. That shows how powerful BJP is and where it derives its power from. The Congress is trying to break the important people (from BJP) in these constituencies and also give them space to practice more freedom and authority, which can lead us to electoral advancements.”
Party leaders also claim that there are around 20 Assembly seats where independent candidates are powerful who can be courted to contest the elections from the Congress which will increase the party’s winnability on the seats.
A senior leader said that Digvijaya Singh has been given responsibility to build a solid cadre in these constituencies. The leader said, “There are high chances that the Congress will give a solid fight to the BJP in at least 20 seats out of the 66.” Notably, there are 230 Assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh and both the national parties had fallen short of seats to form a majority government in 2018 Assembly elections.
Another positive thing for the Congress, a leader claimed, is the absence of Jyotiraditya Scindia in the Congress. A Congress leader said, “Actually there used be hardcore politics in Morena Nagar Nigam and Gwalior Nagar Nigam in the state and Congress was unable to win these local body polls. Now, after Scindia left the Congress, we have won both the Municipality Corporation elections. And this happened after 53 years. This is a very positive development for the party.”
Moreover, Digvijaya Singh has taken a big role; four rounds of meetings were discussed to take place in these constituencies. A leader said, “In the first, Singh stepped up to do meetings with booth level workers and everyone was heard one-to-one to understand the current dynamics of the constituencies. In the second round, Kamal Nath went there and did big rallies. In the third, AICC observers would go there and do meetings with ground workers and make panels on which candidate would contest on particular seats. In the fourth, Singh will again go there and do the needful. The first three rounds have almost been completed. And in one or two months, tickets will also be decided. We are doing all this to slice down BJP to 30 seats in these 66 Assembly seats.”