Lok Sabha Elections 2024: With a new face, BJP hopes to retain its dominance in Bhopal. Can Congress spring a surprise?

Bhopal: After a blockbuster battle in Bhopal in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls when BJP pitted Sadhvi Pragya Thakur against Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh, the Madhya Pradesh's state capital will not see a high octane battle this time, with both the BJP and the Congress choosing new faces.

Yet, the fight between BJP candidate and former mayor Alok Sharma and Congress candidate and district president Arun Srivastava promises to be a feisty one. 

In 2019 Lok Sabha polls, BJP's Pragya Thakur won the Bhopal Lok Sabha seat by a margin of 3,64,822 votes. This term, however, the BJP has chosen to give a miss to Thakur, who ruffled feathers the wrong way due to her slew of statements during her tenure.

Speaking to DH, Alok Sharma said he is happy that both parties have fielded Bhopal residents and not outsiders. "Bhopal ka beta hoon (I’m a son of Bhopal); people have seen what I have done and what I am capable of. If I am voted to power, then we will have a triple-engine government here, with the BJP ruling the Centre as well as the state,” Sharma said.

Invoking BJP’s achievements and promises, Sharma, on his part, is studying the major capitals across the globe to develop Bhopal. “We are already a smarty city, we are gifted with heritage and digitally we are making a mark. We will be a metro city soon, and we will be a global city in the near future,” he promises. 

Although, BJP has not the lost the Bhopal sear since 1989, what might make matters somewhat easier for the Congress is that Sharma lost the recently concluded assembly elections in the state last year to Congress’ Atiq Aqueel. 

According to Rasheed Kidwai, senior political analyst, author and Bhopal resident, this is where the BJP’s election machinery comes into plat.

"In the state elections Alok Sharma was fielded from a minority dominated seat of Bhopal North; Sharma is now looking at a larger demographic profile of Bhopal and appealing that since he lost from a minority seat, the majority community should vote him to power," Kidwai told DH.   

The state capital as well as several seats in Madhya Pradesh are expected to go the BJP way, yet the seeming absence of a contest is proving to spell some trouble for the BJP. "It is to address these fears that Modi’s roadshow was held last in Bhopal on April 24, two weeks ahead of the polling date May 7," Kidwai said.  

“The move may have baffled political watchers and activists alike, but the logic is that in Madhya Bharat, the BJP, Jana Sangh and RSS are well entrenched, and this can be seen as PM Modi’s way of comforting them that he is there even if there’s a strong possibility of a BJP win,” Kidwai added.

Kidwai said Modi’s rally was also seen as an attempt to motivate the RSS cadre. “Reports started coming in that they were unhappy with the induction of over 50,000 Congress workers. There was a certain amount of disquiet in the BJP-RSS circuit for drafting so many from the enemy camp, and taking up positions,” Kidwai said.