Madhya Pradesh: Shivraj seems to be alone, even his own are not supporting him

Shivraj Singh Chauhan is all prepared to fight the third assembly election while being the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh. Like the previous two elections, this time too the BJP is heavily banking on Shivraj. From ticket distribution to the party’s manifesto in the state, no decision is being taken without consulting Shivraj Singh's advice. Even the RSS’ suggestion to cancel the tickets for more than 100 existing MLAs was sidelined by Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

Nothing moves without consulting Shivraj in the Madhya Pradesh BJP. Even the former Chief Minister Babulal Gaur had to go silent to get a ticket for his daughter-in-law. High profile Sartaj Singh failed to get a ticket for himself. Situation is such that the BJP's national general secretary and a close associate of Amit Shah, Kailash Vijayvargiya had to give up his seat to get his son a ticket.

On one hand, Shivraj has not been listening to anyone and has been taking decisions arbitrarily, on the other, people and state leaders have also started distancing themselves from him. If the BJP wins the elections, Shivraj will be the king but if it faces defeat then only Shivraj will be held responsible.

It’s difficult for Shivraj to overcome the anti incumbency in the state

The Shivraj government in the state is about to complete 13 years and the BJP government 15 years in the state. The people, employees and even the media are now bored of Shivraj's presence. The vacant chairs during the events held by the BJP leaders and media surveys too hint at this. The state media which was never tired of singing praises of Shivraj has now even compelled the BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra to wait in the hotel room.

The fear of defeat has now started haunting the party leaders. That is why as compared to the Congress, more BJP leaders have switched sides. Before the list of the BJP candidates was out, two present BJP legislators and Shivraj’s own brother-in-law left the party and joined Congress. Even the farmers, youth and the upper caste who were responsible for the BJP’s victory in previous assembly elections now seems to be upset with the government.

The Congress can create magic

After the defeat in 2003 assembly elections, the Congress has been facing allegations of factionalism. The rebel Congress leaders were one of the main reasons of the BJP victory in the state. But this time the situation is different than the last three elections.

All important leaders including Kamalnath, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Digvijay Singh are now coming together on one platform, they are following one line and speaking the same thing. After the distribution of tickets the internal conflict, which was earlier apparent in the state Congress, can now be seen in the BJP.