Vidisha: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is hoping to retain the Vidisha seat, which has sent many party stalwarts like former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and current Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj, to the Lok Sabha. Swaraj has decided not to contest elections this time and therefore, the BJP has fielded Ramakant Bhargava for this prestigious seat. The Congress, on the other hand, has picked a young face Shailendra Patel (42). The constituency is witnessing a straight fight between BJP and Congress.
Vidisha is considered to be a BJP stronghold where the party has been winning continuously for the last 30 years. There are eight constituencies which fall under the Vidisha parliamentary constituency area. Even during the recent Assembly elections when the Congress fared better in many parts of Madhya Pradesh, the BJP improved its performance in Vidisha by winning six out of the eight seats , while the Congress could get only two. Earlier, BJP had five and Congress three seats.
Though there is general appreciation for Sushma Swaraj and the fact that Vidisha is being represented by a high profile leader like her, voters feel that their representative should be a person who is accessible and remains with them in their hours of happiness and sorrow. “Though she was not available to the people of Vidisha most of the time, her contribution as a Foreign Minister is definitely a matter of pride for us. We also understand that she was not keeping well for the last three years,” a resident at Shastri Nagar said.
The overall mood of the voters seem to be tilting in favour of BJP as they feel that Prime Minister Narendra Modi needs to be given another term. There is also a perception that since Congress is unlikely to form government, there is no point in “wasting” the vote. Shailesh, a college student at Durga Nagar, said, “Though there were some problems under the Modi raj, I think he is the best person to lead the country at this point in time.”
While the BJP’s campaign is centred around Narendra Modi, national security and development, Congress is talking about the sops given by the Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh by providing relief in electricity bills, waiving of farmers’ loan, assistance of Rs 51,000 for girls’ wedding etc. The Congress is also telling the voters that despite so many BJP stalwarts representing the seat for three decades, the constituency did not see any development.
Ajay Kataria, a local Congress leader, said: “The constituency is dominated by farmers, but nothing has been done for them in these years. The issue of Makoria dam is pending for a long time. Sushmaji has been MP for the last 10 years, but she did nothing for the area.” He also said the BJP candidate Bhargava was involved in a corruption case and it was Shivraj Singh Chouhan who led an agitation against him. “But now the party has given ticket to the same person,” he added. Kataria said Patel comes from the Khati (Kurmi) community, who are in good numbers in five Assembly segments and therefore he will get their support.
BJP claims that Sushma Swaraj did lot of development works in the area. Uday Dholi, general secretary of Vidisha BJP, said: “Some of the major works include building the Tagore Cultural Centre, a railway factory and improving the condition of National Highway,”