Bhopal: Ahead of the assembly election later this year, the Congress in Madhya Pradesh is trying to regain its lost ground by welcoming the disgruntled ranks of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) into its folds. The party hopes to use them as a counterweight against the former Congress members who switched sides with Jyotiraditya Scindia and toppled the Kamal Nath-led government in 2020.
After Scindia’s defection to the BJP in March 2020 with his 22 loyalist MLAs, the Congress not only lost government in Madhya Pradesh, but also its organisational infrastructure in these constituencies.
To rebuild its base, the Congress has been reaching out to the BJP leaders who feel sidelined or ignored by the ruling party, ThePrint has learnt. In the last three months, more than two dozen BJP leaders, including former minister Deepak Joshi, and some Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) functionaries, have joined the Congress.
In the last week, three BJP leaders — Awadhesh Nayak from Datia, Rajkumar Dhanora from Sagar, and Raghuraj Singh Dhakad, a Scindia loyalist from Kolaras (Shivpuri) — joined the Congress.
The Congress has benefited from giving tickets to dissatisfied BJP leaders in the past. For example, during the 2020 bypolls, it had fielded Satish Sikarwar and Suresh Raje from Gwalior East and Dabra, respectively. They managed to defeat Scindia loyalists Munnalal Goyal and Imarti Devi in 2020.
“The Congress is focusing on all the 230 assembly seats, but there is a special focus on defectors, the killers of democracy, to give them a taste of their own medicines. There is tremendous discontent among the people of MP, and there will be no stones left unturned to teach them a lesson,” a senior Congress MLA and former minister told ThePrint.
One of the latest recruits is Dhakad — a prominent leader of the Dhakad or Kirar community, which is a dominant caste group in the Ashok Nagar and Guna Lok Sabha constituencies with over four lakh voters, according to party leaders. Dhakad, who joined the Congress Thursday, is the third Scindia loyalist to do so, after Baijnath Yadav and Rakesh Gupta, whose entry is expected to strengthen the party in Shivpuri by widening its base among the trader community.
“Since Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan belongs to the same caste (Kirar community), the BJP didn’t give space to the community leaders in the party, who remained largely ignored,” a local community leader told ThePrint.
In the BJP camp too, the ruling party has been gearing up for the elections. Union Home Minister Amit Shah held three internal meetings in July to formulate the BJP’s strategy for the upcoming polls. According to political experts, the focus of these meetings has been to keep the varying factions in check and ensure smooth coordination in the elections.
Political analyst Dinesh Gupta pointed to the issues within the BJP party structure. “Despite the BJP winning consecutive elections barring 2018, why is it that Amit Shah and two other Union leaders have to come down and formulate the strategy? What does this show that either the local BJP leaders are not capable of strategising for the upcoming elections or they do not want to work together,” he told The Print.
According to him, after these meetings by Shah, Narendra Singh Tomar has been made the Election Management Committee convenor and the senior BJP leaders were seen together, but that synergy is not visible on the ground.
“Even as the BJP leaders were tasked with pacifying workers who are upset, the impact is not seen on the ground as several workers are joining the Congress,” Gupta added.
Meanwhile, when asked about his supporters returning to the Congress, Scindia in the first week of July in Guna reportedly said, “Zindagi mein rajnetik dal mein log aaenge, log jaaenge, ye koi pehli bar nahi hai, naa hi ye koi nahi baat hai. Aazadi ke samay sae yae prakriya chalti aa rahi hai. (People will come and go. This is not the first time this has happened, there is nothing new in this. This process has been going on since Independence)”
He also wished the best to those leaders who were leaving now.
However, despite the efforts of the party, a Congress leader speaking to ThePrint stressed, “Not all might be willing to join the Congress openly, there might be a few who would work for the Congress while being in the BJP.”
Moreover, the Congress, while inducting BJP leaders, is also mindful of not upsetting its local units ahead of the assembly election. The party has maintained that it isn’t inducting BJP leaders with an assurance to give them a ticket and that the ticket distribution will only be done based on the winnability of a candidate according to the various surveys done by the party.
Also Read: Tea with 2 voters daily, weekly targets, zonal meetings — Amit Shah’s poll plan for MP BJP
Congress’ plan of action
According to party sources, to avenge the defections that led to the fall of the short-lived party government, Kamal Nath-led Congress is strategising to corner the defectors and hopes to get support from the BJP leaders who feel ignored.
After inducting three BJP leaders into the Congress fold, Congress state chief Kamal Nath, while addressing a press conference in Bhopal on 7 August joked, “Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is welcome to join the Congress if he wants, but will need permission from the local leadership to do so.”
To weaken Scindia’s influence in his stronghold of Guna, Congress leaders said, Rao Yadvendra Singh Yadav, a former zila panchayat president from Mungaoli in Ashok Nagar district and son of three-time BJP MLA Deshraj Yadav, was inducted in the Congress in March. Mungaoli and Kolaras are both part of the Guna Lok Sabha seat.
The Congress is also targeting other Scindia supporters who are now ministers in the Chouhan cabinet. To challenge Govind Singh Rajput, a sitting revenue and transport minister who represents Surkhi in Sagar district of Bundelkhand region, the Congress has inducted his arch-rival and BJP leader Rajkumar Dhanura Sunday.
Similarly, to corner Home Minister Narottam Mishra, who won from Datia by a narrow margin of over 2,600 votes, the Congress has brought in Awadhesh Nayak — an RSS leader from Datia, party sources said.
According to Anand Ahirwar, Congress’ district in-charge for Sagar rural, “There are at least three-four BJP leaders who are likely to join Congress from Sagar district by the end of this month.”
The Congress is also working on strengthening its position at 66 seats that it has been losing for more than three times. Senior party leader Digvijaya Singh was assigned to analyse these seats, and he submitted a report to Kamal Nath in mid-July with a strategy to win at least 30 of them, another senior Congress leader told ThePrint.
Taking a potshot at the factionalism in the BJP, on 8 August, Singh posted on X (formerly Twitter), “Madhya Pradesh mein BJP ke kitne ang aur rang hai aap bhi pehchaniye; Naraz (unhappy) BJP, Maharaj BJP, Shivraj BJP and Shah BJP (which is the latest group).”
“To consolidate, control and balance the first three factions, a new faction of Shah-BJP added two Union ministers Bhupendra Yadav and Ashwini Vaishnaw. Does it mean, Modiji does not have faith in its local leadership?” he added.
Also Read: CM Chouhan may not be face of ‘Jan Ashirwad’ yatra in MP, BJP likely to diversify leadership
Probable candidates
With Singh’s inputs, the Congress is likely to rope in Samandar Patel, a member of BJP’s state working committee and former Congress leader from Jawad in Neemuch district. Patel addressed a press conference in Neemuch on Friday with the district Congress team announcing his return to the Congress, but an official announcement from the state leadership is likely to happen in the coming days.
Patel had left the Congress and contested as an Independent in 2018 and polled 33,000 votes, paving the way for BJP’s Om Prakash Saklecha to win, according to an analysis of the 2018 result of Jawad. Saklecha is now the Minister of Science and Technology and MSME in Chouhan’s government.
Patel had damaged the Congress candidate by dividing votes, but his joining will enable the party to put forth a united fight against the BJP.
The Congress is also learnt to be in touch with Mudit Shejwar, son of seven-time BJP MLA Gauri Shankar Shejwar from Sanchi in Raisen district. It hopes to deploy him against Health Minister Prabhuram Choudhary — a Scindia supporter who won from Sanchi.
Another Scindia supporter who is facing opposition from within the BJP is Rajvardhan Singh Dattigaon, the Minister for Industry Policy and Investment Promotion. He is facing stiff resistance from BJP leader Bhanwar Singh Shekhawat from Badnawar in Dhar district.
Shekhawat reportedly criticised the BJP for losing its ability to distinguish between true workers and mass leaders. The former MLA from Badnawar was left out after Dattigaon joined the BJP in 2020. The Scindia loyalist won the bypolls from Badnawar and later was made a minister.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
Also Read: Parties in MP want a piece of Baghelkhand influencers. Reels are the new political manifestos