Mp bypolls bjp relatively comfortable but congress could make scindia sweat

Mp bypolls bjp relatively comfortable but congress could make scindia sweat

The 28 seats in Madhya Pradesh that go for bypolls today could throw up interesting results. It will be recalled that the bypolls were necessitated after 22 Congress MLAs of the erstwhile Kamal Nath government switched over to BJP following a rebellion by Jyotiraditya Scindia in March this year. Subsequently, three more Congress MLAs defected, bringing down Congress’s tally to 88 in the 230-member assembly. This allowed BJP – currently with 107 MLAs – to form the state government with Shivraj Singh Chouhan returning as CM. Thus, BJP needs to win just nine seats in the bypolls to cross the halfway mark and remain in power, while Congress has to win all 28 to make a dramatic comeback.

That might be a tall order for the grand old party which continues to grapple with its leadership vacuum. But Congress could still play spoiler for new BJP entrant Scindia. For the latter the bypolls represent a major test, particularly since 16 of the 28 seats going to polls are in his Gwalior-Chambal region. That senior Congress neta Digvijaya Singh too has considerable influence in this part of the state means the contest harks back to the old Scindia-Singh rivalry. And if Scindia fails to secure a handsome victory here, it will certainly limit his stature and bargaining power within BJP.

That would be a disastrous outcome for the former Guna MP – a seat which he had lost on the Congress ticket in 2019 – who had taken a big gamble by ditching his old party. There is already a perception that Scindia was too impatient, and BJP poaching Congress MLAs to bring down the 15-month-old Nath government could be frowned upon by the electorate. Add to this the economic hardships wrought by Covid-19, and BJP can’t afford to rest assured either. The possibility of a Congress bounceback, no matter how remote, will keep Scindia on the edge till result day.