Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Riding on Modi's popularity & aggressive campaign, BJP sweeps Madhya Pradesh, say experts

Bhopal: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity coupled with an aggressive campaign helped the BJP make a clean sweep of Madhya Pradesh in the Lok Sabha polls and wrest the Congress bastion Chhindwara, say political observers.

Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah's poll strategy also resulted in several Congress workers joining the ruling side and weakening the opposition camp, they said.

On the other side, the state Congress leadership failed to display strength, an effective strategy and aggressiveness to counter the BJP, the analysts said.

The BJP on Tuesday won all the 29 Lok Sabha seats in the central state, including Chhindwara from where Congress MP Nakul Nath, the son of former state chief minister Kamal Nath, was seeking a second term.

MP has been the political arena of BJP stalwarts like former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Vijaya Raje Scindia and Kushabhau Thakre.

The strong saffron surge this time resulted in the Congress even losing its bastion Chhindwara.

This is the second time since Independence that the BJP has won Chhindwara.

Before the polls, there were speculations that Kamal Nath and his son may cross over to the BJP as the duo camped in Delhi for a few days. Later, both of them denied such claims.

But, according to poll analysts, such rumours demoralised the Congress cadres.

As part of the BJP's aggressive campaign strategy, PM Modi addressed eight public meetings and led two roadshows in the state, which drew huge crowds.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP chief JP Nadda, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and state party head V D Sharma also addressed various meetings.

MP Chief Minister Mohan Yadav addressed more than 180 public meetings and held around 58 roadshows in the state, as per a party leader.

On the other side, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra addressed one public rally reach, while Rahul Gandhi held five rallies.

During a visit to Gwalior, Shah had asked BJP members at a meeting to facilitate the induction of local influential and disgruntled leaders and workers of the Congress, including from Chhindwara, into the saffron fold, a BJP leader said.

The BJP had set an ambitious target to induct 1 lakh workers of Congress in Madhya Pradesh in its fold, including 50,000 in Chhindwara.

Before the polls, some close aides of Kamal Nath switched over from the Congress to the ruling side.

In the November 2023 Madhya Pradesh polls, the Congress won all seven assembly seats in Chhindwara district. But later, some of its influential leaders, including Union minister Suresh Pachouri, joined the BJP, weakening the grand old party's state unit.

Senior journalist and a visiting fellow with Observer Research Foundation (ORF), Rasheed Kidwai, told PTI on Tuesday that the Lok Sabha poll results in MP manifest the Congress' weak state leadership.

"The state leadership failed to demonstrate bravery, strategy and aggressiveness to counter the BJP," he said.

He claimed that Kamal Nath remained tied to Chhindwara to ensure his son's win, but in vain, he said.

"The Lok Sabha poll was a litmus test for the Congress which miserably lost in the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections to the BJP in November 2023. The MP Congress should learn a lesson from the party's showing in neighbouring Rajasthan in the general elections or the day is not far off when it will go the Gujarat way where the Congress stands decimated," Kidwai said.

Political observer Jairam Shukla said Congress' was a case of hit wicket.

"Naths' Delhi episode shook confidence of the Congress cadre is MP. Both paid a heavy price for it after the BJP slammed its doors on them," he said.

Secondly, handing over of the Congress reign in the state to 'immature' leader Jitu Patwari, who lost the 2023 assembly poll, came a cropper, Shukla claimed.

"He has no standing. Senior leaders did not accept him as their leader," he said.

On the other hand, the BJP fought the elections aggressively and strategically with its well-oiled state machinery coupled with micro-booth management, Shukla added.

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