By L.S. Herdenia
BHOPAL: MP Congress president Kamal Nath has a certain mastery over the art of fighting elections. Barring once, he never tasted defeat in the Chhindwara Lok Sabha constituency, which he holds since 1980. Nath is now using his expertise to gear up the state Congress in a systematic manner to face the electoral battle. He has constituted several committees and assigned them jobs. On July 11 he formally inaugurated the newly constituted working committee and held a meeting of the committee.
He told the members that the coming election will be a breathtaking one. The meeting condemned the state of affairs in the state and passed four resolutions relating to farmer deaths, the financial condition of the state, unemployment of youths and women.
Talking to media, Nath claimed that the state government’s assessment showed that it was bound to lose the local body elections and to save its reputation decided to call off the elections. He said that the state government is facing financial crisis but the Government of India is not releasing funds for the state.
He wondered why CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan was not sitting on dharna against the government of India’s inaction in this matter, while during the UPA regime he used to sit on dharna on even minor issues.
There is reason to believe that the ground level political climate is against the BJP. Overwhelming sections of people are giving expression to their feelings in unique new ways. For example, some women of Khandwa, a stronghold of BJP, formed a football team, pasted Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s picture on the football and then kicked it around on the playground declaring that they will kick the BJP government in the same way in the coming Vidhan Sabha elections. As per reports reaching Bhopal from various parts of the state, BJP leaders are facing hostile crowds. BJP leaders including ministers, MPs, MLAs and others were asked to interact with people to tell them about the achievements of the state and Central governments. In several cases people refused to listen and in some cases shouted, asking them to go back.
There have also been ugly scenes of angry exchanges between BJP leaders. A BJP ward member and her supporters in Bhopal did not allow MP Alok Sanjar and MLA Rameshwar Sharma to perform “Bhumi Poojan” prior to the construction of a small piece of road. They even exchanged blows. The ward member has put up a notice board in which MLA Sharma has been warned not to enter the area. Bhopal’s BJP Mayor staged a unique dharna sitting on a chair in knee deep water. He was protesting against the government’s Public Works Department for its failure to carry out pre-monsoon work, which resulted in the submergence of several roads and houses after heavy rains.
Perhaps perturbed over the angry mood of the people, Chief Minister Chouhan is launching what he described as “Ashrivad Yatra” (to seek people’s blessings). A day before the Yatra, which is being launched by BJP president Amit Shah ion July 14, Chouhan will perform rituals and offer puja at the BJP head office. The yatra will be launched from Ujjain, the city of holy Mahakal temple. Sources in BJP said that Chouhan will visit all 230 constituencies. In order to checkmate the Chief Minister’s yatra the Congress is also launching “Pol Khol Yatra” (yatra to expose the claims made by the Chief Minister). The Congress yatra will take off from Tarana town in Ujjain district on July 18. The yatra will be flagged off by Kamalnath and joined by various leaders of the party in their respective regions. Besides the Pol Khol yatra, the Congress has also started consulting various sections of the society to seek their views about the issues that they would like to see included in the Congress manifesto. Two such consultations have already taken place in Bhopal. The consultations were organised by former MP Meenkashi Natrajan, who is regarded as a member of Rahul Gandhi’s inner circle. (IPA Service)
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