BJP eyes Madhya Pradesh, but not in a hurry

After a thumping win in the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP has now set its eyes on Madhya Pradesh, where the Congress government is propped up by the BSP and independent MLAs.

A senior BJP leader claimed that disgruntled Congress MLAs were already in touch with him, but the party was not too keen to destabilise Chief Minister Kamal Nath's government just yet.

“The Congress government has three clear factions led by Kamal Nath, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Digvijaya Singh. It may crumble due to its internal contradictions,” the BJP leader said.

He made it clear that none of the parties favours mid-term polls and it remains to be seen how the chief minister deals with the disenchantment within the party after the humiliating loss of strong leaders such as Scindia and Singh.

The Congress government enjoys a wafer-thin majority in the 230-member Madhya Pradesh Assembly. Congress has 114 members and is supported by two BSP, one SP and four Independent legislators. The BJP has 108 lawmakers.

In terms of vote share, the BJP won 41% votes while the Congress won 40.9% votes.

Those keen to defect from the Congress are also concerned about their political future and how the BJP would accommodate them in the party hierarchy.

"We will wait till the local bodies elections later this year," the BJP leader said, indicating that a regime change could happen before year-end.

Ahead of the 2017 Assembly elections in Uttarakhand, 12 Congress leaders, including former Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna had joined the BJP. Nine Congress MLAs and sons of two defectors won their respective Assembly seats as BJP candidates.

In Uttar Pradesh, two prominent Congress leaders – Rita Bahuguna Joshi and Dhirendra Singh won the Assembly elections as BJP candidates. Joshi contested the Lok Sabha elections from Allahabad and won the seat convincingly.

In Maharashtra, Congressman and Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil quit the party to join the BJP. Vikhe-Patil is expected to be inducted as a Cabinet Minister in the state government.