The Bhitarwar seat in the Gwalior-Chambal region of Madhya Pradesh had never been won by the Bharatiya Janata Party in the past 20 years. This time, after the entry of Jyotiraditya Scindia into the saffron camp, the BJP finally bagged the constituency. A Scindia supporter, Mohan Singh Rathore, defeated a four-time Congress MLA.
Jyotiraditya Scindia not only brought the BJP into power in 2020 by helping overthrow the Kamal Nath government but also contributed significantly to the latest victory of the BJP in the state. He held 80 rallies in the last 13 days of the campaign across the state, especially in the Malwa and Indore regions, and some of his key supporters won tough seats.
Decisive change
The BJP had won just seven out of the 34 seats in the Gwalior-Chambal region the last time in 2018. But this time, the party’s tally rose to 18 seats in this key region, which is seen as the stronghold of Scindia. News18 had accompanied the leader during his rallies in these parts on one of the days of his campaign. The BJP has won all these seats that it lost in several elections. Many political pundits were predicting that the saffron party would not win even 10 seats here as some key castes were backing the Congress. But the Scindia factor seems to have tilted the scales for the BJP this time.
“He knows and understands well the rebellious behaviour of the Gwalior-Chambal region,” a BJP leader said. The Malwa-Nimar region is also considered key to power in the state. The last time, the Congress had won big here, but this time, the BJP’s seats in this area increased two and a half times. The BJP won 48 out of the 66 constituencies here, and some of it was due to the whirlwind campaign by Scindia. The party also bagged all nine seats in Indore, a region that the Scindia family has been associated with for many centuries.
Scindia was on target
Scindia faced continuous attacks from the Congress with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also launching a jibe at him towards the end of the campaign. Unfazed by this, he had started preparations for this election in February itself, those close to him say.
A key initiative was the Samaj Sammelans that he kicked off himself and ultimately organised 48 such gatherings, due to which he was successful in uniting people of all communities and turning them towards the BJP. Scindia also ensured that he created harmony among the new workers of the BJP and the old guard of cadres and went to meet them at the booths.
The union minister was also quick to sense a “Congress-sponsored Gurjar tribal rebellion” in the region in October, when protests were organised at the district headquarters. Scindia thwarted such attempts to mislead the Gurjar community, sources said.
Though Scindia was not asked to contest the elections, his presence left an imprint on the massive success of the BJP. Will he be the chief ministerial pick? Scindia earlier told News18: “I am not after any post.”
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