Saffron spring collection

The focus now is on younger OBC leaders such as Shivraj Singh Chauhan who is already party general secretary and union minister for state Prahlad Patel who has been pitted against Kamal Nath.

At the same time the RSS has extracted its pound of flesh. Already in the wake of the Assembly results, the traditional pattern in a BJP government, which had the RSS interacting with the BJP state leadership and the state leadership with the government, has been short-circuited. State party chief Kailash Joshi has little or no role with the Sangh directly interacting with the Uma government through its own men—Kaptan Singh Solanki, party organising general secretary and Anil Dave, advisor to Uma Bharti.

This is reflected in the Lok Sabha list. Having ensured a sweep in the Bhil tribal tracts for the party, the RSS has also made sure that one time Congressman Dilip Singh Bhuria has been denied the Jhabua ticket, a fate Digvijay’s brother Laxman Singh may well bear in mind. The ticket from the nearby constituency of Khargone has also gone to veteran RSS leader Krishnamurari Moghe.

This is a process that has not gone unchallenged. Much as was the case with the Dhar Assembly seat where the BJP candidate was replaced by a RSS man at the behest of the Hindu Jagran manch, the Moghe nomination has aroused resentment within the local leadership. But despite such hiccups the control of the Sangh and its overt involvement in electoral politics and administration is a now a given in MP.

Moghe’s is not the only name that has aroused reactions within the party. Patwa loyalists have taken umbrage that his Hoshangabad seat being given to Sartaj Singh as has the Rajgarh district unit and at the decision to burden them with the task of electing their one-time nemesis Laxman Singh, brother of former Congress CM Digvijay Singh.

Party leaders say the rumblings are only a reflection of the fact that the BJP ticket is much sought after at a time when the Congress has to hunt for suitable candidates.

The Congress is clearly a party disheartened by the Assembly results. Just tallying the Assembly results in the respective Lok Sabha constituencies indicate that the BJP, which holds 21 of the 29 seats, outpolled the Congress in each of the 29 MP LS constituencies.

In fact there are just three regions of the state where the BJP had real cause for worry. The first was the Gwalior-Chambal belt where the Congress ran close to the BJP in the Assembly polls.

Bhind will witness a close fight, Gwalior could be another such seat depending on the Congress candidate and Jyotiraditya Scindia is expected to win from Guna. Unable to find a candidate against Jyotiraditya, the BJP has fielded Samanta Dal MLA Hari Vallabh Shukla, in fact Shukla officially joined the BJP only after his name was announced.

The second region is the Vindhya region bordering UP. In Satna, Rewa and Sidhi the role of the BSP could be crucial. The last region of concern is the Gondwana belt in Southern MP. In the three seats of Mandla, Seoni and Chhindwara, the combined vote of the Congress and the Gondwana Gantantra Party comfortably exceeds the BJP share. But so far the GGP has shown no signs of joining hands with the Congress and if this remains so the BJP only stands to benefit.

The Congress’ failure to strike alliances or mount any sort of opposition to the Uma government indicates the party has been unable to regroup, nor does it seem to have learnt any lessons from the Assembly debacle. Under the circumstances, for the Congress to even keep the BJP pegged at 20 seats or so would be an achievement.