NEW DELHI: Rajgarh gears up for elections on May 7. It will be a showdown between a Congress aristocrat and BJP’s OBC candidate.
After Congress fielded its stalwart leader Digvijaya Singh to contest the polls against the Bharatiya Janata Party’s two-time sitting MP, Rodmal Nagar, Rajgarh will witness a strong fight between two high-profile candidates of the BJP and Congress.
Rajgarh is one of the 29 constituencies of Madhya Pradesh, which is currently ruled by the BJP. Although the party has won the last two elections in Rajgarh, this time the challenge has intensified. A source within the party said, “The party identified Rajgarh as a tough, weak, or close fight seat; thats why the party is working hard on its strategy.”
Digvijaya Singh, earlier said he wouldn’t contest the poll as he was already a Rajya Sabha M.P. will now be up against BJP candidate and two-term sitting MP Rodmal Nagar.
The 77-year-old, Singh hails from the erstwhile royal family of Rajgarh, whereas Nagar is a 64-year-old OBC face of the party and belongs to the Kirar community same as incumbent CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan. In Rajgarh, the Kirar community holds significant sway and voting strength. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Nagar secured a massive victory, defeating Congress candidate Mona Sustani, who was supported by Digvijaya Singh, by over 4 lakh votes. However, Sustani later switched allegiance and joined the BJP before the 2019 assembly elections.
Since Singh’s name was announced to contest the poll, he is regularly campaigning focusing on the youths and old guards of Rajgarh. The congress veteran undertook a padyatra to woo the voters. In his padyatra, he covered roughly 100 km across the Rajgarh parliamentary constituency. He was seen walking with his wife and former TV anchor Amrita Roy, MLA Jaivardhan Singh, and grandson, latching on his back to cover distance.
During his campaign, he projected himself as a staunch religious person by covering her neck with ‘mata ki chunri’ during the nine days of Navratri.
During the campaign at one of the public meetings recently, the erstwhile ruler of Raghogarh, in his emotionally charged appeal, invoked the century-old family ties with Rajgarh. “My forefathers contributed immensely and were instrumental in the development of this region. This is my last election; hence, I need people’s support and blessing to achieve and ensure victory,” he said.
On the other hand, the BJP’s Rodmal Nagar’s campaign is politically charged with presence of senior BJP leaders, including the CM, state BJP president VD Sharma, former CM Chouhan, Home Minister Amit Shah, and many more. Sources within the party told The Sunday Guardian that the BJP is investing heavily at the ground level as part of its strategy.
party identified Rajgarh as a tough, weak, or close fight seat. So, they are doing door-to-door campaigning here.
The BJP is contesting the election on the face of Modi and projecting centrally sponsored schemes including housing, the Ayushman Card, rations, farm loan waivers, Ladli Behna, etc. The party workers are hitting the ground with the beneficiary database ready and seeking votes in the name of Modi.
Caste will play an important part in the battle for this seat. The BJP has given the ticket to the sitting MP, who comes from the Kirar community. However, Singh has brought up the fact that BJP is ignoring the Saundhiya community in his campaigning and how Congress has been with this community. The Saundhiya community is spread in the border areas of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, and about 2.5 lakh of its voters are considered to be in the Rajgarh seat. In fact, this community also impacts Dewas, Ujjain, Ratlam, and Mandsaur seats.
The Rajgarh seat comprises 8 Assembly segments, including Chachoda, Raghogarh, Narsinghgarh, Biaora, Rajgarh, Khilchipur, Sarangpur, and Susner. In 2019, out of eight assembly seats in the Lok Sabha constituency spread over three districts, the BJP has six seats, while Congress has two seats, and similar results stand in the 2024 assembly election. Despite this, the local BJP leader, who requested not to disclose his name, said that the party cannot take Digvijaya Singh lightly as it is his home turf.
Rajghar reflects a diverse demographic and remains a crucial constituency of Madhya Pradesh. Rajgarh parliament seat as of 2019 had 16,81,353 voters. Constituencies consist of approximately 314,413 SC voters and 97,518 S.T. voters, which is around 18.7% and 5.8%, respectively, as per the 2011 Census.