The 16th Lok Sabha not only altered the political scenario in world’s biggest democracy—India—but these elections for sure have changed political stature of Madhya Pradesh.
The state which elected Bharatiya Janata Party for three consecutive times in the state assembly in recent past played a key role in the thumping victory of Narendra Modi-led BJP at the Centre by offering 27 out of 29 parliamentary seats it had in the kitty.
The Modi government also returned the favour by inducting four parliamentarians; Narendra Singh Tomar, Sushma Swaraj (Lok Sabha), Thawar Chand Gehlot and Najma Heptullah (Rajya Sabha) into the cabinet.
Moreover, former BJP spokesperson and Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar also has sought Rajya Sabha membership from Madhya Pradesh.
To top it all, Madhya Pradesh for the first time has received the honour of sending the Lok Sabha speaker as eight time senior Member of Parliament from Indore, Sumitra Mahajan has been elected as the speaker of 16th Lok Sabha.
Mahajan’s appointment as Lok Sabha speaker holds prominence as senior leaders like Lal Krishna Advani, AIADMK’s M Thambidurai and Congress’ Mallikajun Kharge were vying for this coveted post.
Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and senior state BJP leader Uma Bharti also has got a cabinet berth by contesting Lok Sabha elections from Jhansi (UP), successfully.
Significantly, Uttar Pradesh, which gave 73 parliamentary seats to BJP in the Lok Sabha elections, has got the maximum share. Four Cabinet and four MoS from Uttar Pradesh were inducted in Modi’s Cabinet.
Interestingly, Rajasthan which delivered all 25 parliamentary seats to BJP, got just one representation.
The above par representation to Madhya Pradesh also came at a time when BJP internally was abuzz with intense rivalry of MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi. In such a situation, states like Rajasthan, Maharashtra and others were expected to get major chunk in Modi cabinet.
But an astute politician like Modi had something else in mind.
For the past few decades, Madhya Pradesh has never got such political prominence at the Centre and analysts suggest that allocation of key ministerial berths and speaker’s post is evidence of Madhya Pradesh’s growing political clout in national politics.
In the last two tenures of Congress-led UPA, the BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh was predominantly represented at the Centre by two Congress heavyweights – Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia. However due to obvious reasons, these ministers kept their influence mostly to their parliamentary constituencies only.
Following the newly found significant representation at the Centre, the leaders in Madhya Pradesh are more than confident that the state would get its share on the rapid growth and development and would also have greater say in national affairs.
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