Bhopal, May 23 (UNI) Talk about emphatic and historic victories!
In the 17th general election, probably even the saffron camp was not expecting such comprehensive success in the heartland state Madhya Pradesh where – surfing on a Modi wave – it unfurled its victorious banner over 28 of the total 29 parliamentary constituencies, its best performance ever.
Until 2100 hrs, 13 results were declared and were all in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) favour barring Chhindwara. Saffron wins are certain in the remainder areas where margins are huge and formal announcements awaited.
The shocker of the day was the defeat of Congress General Secretary and erstwhile central minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and the fall of the Congress citadel Guna, which was represented by Mr Scindia’s sire Madhavrao Scindia from the fifth to the 13th Lok Sabhas and thence by his son. A Scindia losing from Guna is the almost-unbelievable political equivalent of firing a howitzer at cardboard and having the shell bounce back!
Mr Scindia wrote in social media that for him “politics is solely a medium for public service, something to which I shall ever remain committed.” He was defeated by Mr KP Yadav.
Congress fortress Chhindwara proved its mettle by withstanding the BJP onslaught. Nine-time MP and Chief Minister Kamal Nath’s son Nakul made his maiden entry into the electoral arena and triumphed over Mr Nathan Shah (BJP) albeit not by a whopping margin – the figure being 37,536 – even as his father contested the Chhindwara Assembly by-poll vanquishing Mr Vivek Sahu (BJP) by about 25,000 votes.
However, the Chief Minister bowed to the general mandate and extended felicitations to Premier Narendra Modi and the BJP.
Heaping sarcasm via social media, BJP General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya wrote, “In this state only a father and a son won for the Congress. The ‘Raja’, the ‘Maharaja’ and the courtiers were knocked out.”
BJP state President Rakesh Singh went to the extent of saying that the Chief Minister should tender his resignation.
It appears that the agrarian debt waiver and other initiatives by the state dispensation – which were repeatedly mentioned in Congress rallies – failed to create the desired magic.
Indore was the cynosure of all eyes as outgoing Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan aka ‘Tai’ – who represented it without interval since 1989 – decided against contesting this time but the BJP comfortably retained the seat through Mr Shankar Lalwani.
In Bhopal, sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur – who was elevated as candidate soon after she entered BJP ranks – vanquished two-time Lok Sabha member, presently Rajya Sabha Member and former chief minister Digvijaya Singh by a margin upwards of three lakh.
Vidisha was represented by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in the 11th, 12th, 15th and 16th Lok Sabhas but she decided not to enter the fray this time owing to health considerations and the BJP reposed faith in Mr Ramakant Bhargava. Interestingly ex-chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is a five-time parliamentarian from there.
In Sidhi, erstwhile Human Resource Development minister and former chief minister late Arjun Singh’s son and the Assembly’s ex-leader of the opposition Ajay Singh was humbled.
Cut to Khandwa – represented by stalwart Kushabhau Thakre in the sixth Lok Sabha. Two erstwhile state unit presidents were on collision course as five-time and ‘defending’ MP Nand Kumar Singh Chauhan battled erstwhile central minister and two-time MP Arun Yadav. History repeated itself and Mr Yadav was beaten as in 2014.
In Jabalpur, three-time MP Mr R Singh trounced Rajya Sabha Member and advocate Vivek K Tankha (Cong).
During the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP won 27 of 29 seats. Ratlam, which was later wrested by the Congress in a by-poll, fell on Thursday as former Union minister Kantilal Bhuria bit the dust.
UNI Team-AC