Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will take a leading role in Madhya Pradesh.
Buoyed by its victory in Karnataka, the Congress is sparing no effort to repeat similar performance in the upcoming Madhya Pradesh assembly polls as well. The party is keen to teach those leaders a lesson, who were responsible for the fall of its government in MP in 2020.
PCC chief Kamal Nath and former CM Digvijaya Singh have already intensified their efforts in this direction. Now AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will also join them. The first public meeting of these Congress leaders will be held in Jabalpur on 12 June. Senior Congress leader Vivek Tankha hails from Jabalpur. With this public meeting, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will formally launch a poll campaign in MP. Apart from the BJP government, the Congress would target Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia too. Scindia had left the Congress to join BJP in 2020 following which the Kamal Nath government fell. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will continue to address more rallies in MP. Priyanka’s focus will also be on Telangana where Congress is hopeful of getting power. The party wants Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to hold more rallies in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh only when elections are just a few weeks away. The Congress is quite strong in these two states due to various schemes launched by the chief ministers.
Congress does not want to take any chances in MP. Moreover, it has already taken a lead over BJP there in terms of campaign. The BJP government in MP is facing anti-incumbency. However, CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan is trying to woo voters by launching various schemes. Secondly, the Congress seems to be benefiting from the internal tussle of the BJP. The saffron party in Madhya Pradesh is already divided into various factions. Now, another faction led by Scindia has emerged in the BJP. The BJP leaders are not comfortable with those who came from the Congress. More intense fighting can be seen on the seats where the BJP leaders have been working hard to get a ticket. Scindia may be enjoying the confidence of the central leadership, but he is facing a lot of challenges at the local level. He is facing challenges from his own party BJP and also from Congress. Speculations are rife that some ministers and MLAs who had joined BJP along with Scindia are likely to return to Congress. Digvijaya Singh has, however, said that no leader who left Congress would be taken back.
Meanwhile, Congress is expecting victory in Scindia’s stronghold due to intense tussle in the BJP there. Congress would remind the voters of how the government led by Kamal Nath was toppled. However, Congress is showcasing the schemes of the Rajasthan government. These schemes include OPS, free power, financial help to women, etc. What is good for the Congress is that the entire party is united under the leadership of Kamal Nath. The former CM Nath has a soft-Hindutva image as well. He has got sympathy of the people by dint of hard work over the last three years in MP.
Nothing highlights Congress’ confidence better than Rahul Gandhi’s statement. He had claimed that the Congress would be bagging more than 150 seats in MP. Congress is far ahead of BJP in terms of campaign. The BJP seems to have decided that there will be a direct fight between Shivraj and Nath during the polls in MP. Scindia would be one of top leaders who would be working to strengthen Chouhan’s position in the elections.