Narendra Modi paeans to Rajmata Vijaya Raje Scindia as bypolls loom in Madhya Pradesh

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday released a Rs 100 commemorative coin in the memory of Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia on her birth centenary celebrations that have coincided with the assembly bypolls in Madhya Pradesh.

Addressing a function to celebrate the birth centenary, Modi recalled his first meeting with the late Rajmata during the Ekta Yatra organised by the BJP under the leadership of the then party President Murli Manohar Joshi.

Modi hailed the late leader as a decisive leader and an able administrator who spearheaded agitations from burning of foreign clothes before Independence to fighting the Emergency, and the Ram Janmabhoomi movement.

“It is a wonderful coincidence that the struggle for the Ram Janmabhoomi temple she led is set to be a reality in her birth centenary year,” the prime minister said.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also noted that the Rajmata would have been overjoyed as all her family members were now part of the BJP and could complete her unfinished work.

The celebrations also come at a time when Jyotiraditya Scindia, who quit the Congress in March to join the BJP, faces the biggest challenge to ensure the victory of his supporters in the assembly bypolls scheduled for November 3.

The bypolls were necessitated as 22 Congress MLAs, owing allegiance to Scindia, walked out of the party to join the BJP, bringing down Chief Minister Kamal Nath’s government.

BJP has fielded 25 Congress rebels in the bypolls which are now seen as a test of popularity and the influence wielded by Scindia in Madhya Pradesh, particularly in the Gwalior-Chambal region from where he lost the Lok Sabha elections last year.

Bypolls for 28 seats will be held on November 3.

In the 230-member assembly, the BJP has 107 MLAs and the Congress 88. There are four independent MLAs, two from BSP and one Samajwadi Party MLA. The majority mark in the assembly post the bypolls will be 116.