The Bharatiya Janata Party’s massive show in Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections will further strengthen Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.
The huge support from his bastion — the Gwalior-Chambal region — for the BJP is a reply to his political opponents who have been claiming that “Scindia has no effluence”.
Until the election was held, the BJP leadership maintained that in 2018, the Congress had won the maximum number of seats in the Gwalior-Chambal because of Scindia. But, the Congress leadership claimed that Scindia has no influence in his own region.
A big reason for the Congress’ 2018 win was its performance in Scindia’s stronghold — the Chambal-Gwalior region. The party won 26 of 34 seats; 12 seats in 2013 and 13 in 2008, compared to the BJP’s 20 and 16.
Scindia’s shifting to the BJP in March 2020 led to the fall of Kamal Nath-led Congress government. And for this “betrayal”, the grand old party called him a”gaddar” (traitor).
The Chambal-Gwalior region has eight districts. Five of these — Gwalior, Shivpuri, Datia, Ashoknagar, and Guna — are in the Gwalior region, and three — Morena, Bhind, and Sheopur — are in the Chambal region.
With Scindia firmly in the BJP camp — the saffron party is on a course for a near-clean sweep of Gwalior. The BJP is likely to hold on to the Gwalior (rural) seat and flip the Gwalior (east) and Gwalior (south), as well as Gwalior City and Bhitarwar. Only Dabra seems like it will stay with the Congress.
With the stunning show in the state, Scindia’s supporters want to see him in the CM’s chair. He, however, has said that he was not in the race for the Chief Minister’s post. If Scindia becomes the Chief Minister, it would be a befitting reply to his old party colleagues and two Congress veterans Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh.