<p>Rest of Madhya Pradesh has little resonance with the communally charged, high-decibel electoral battle being fought between Congress’s Digvijay Singh and Malegaon blast accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur in Bhopal.</p>.<p>The idea of polarising the election across Madhya Pradesh by fielding the controversial Sadhvi is proving counter-productive.</p>.<p>Contrary to the central BJP leadership’s expectation, the party candidates in the remaining 28 seats are avoiding mention of the Sadhvi’s ‘ordeal’ to solicit votes.</p>.<p>After her imperious style of campaigning in Bhopal, her offensive remarks about 26/11 martyr Hemant Karkare and her boast about climbing atop the Babri mosque have alerted other candidates to the perils of playing the Hindutva card in their respective constituencies.</p>.<p>In fact, the Sadhvi is struggling to find a support base in Bhopal itself, as was evident with the absence of a large number of BJP people’s representatives, including MLAs and corporators, in a meeting called by the party’s national vice president Vinay Sahastrabuddhe on Tuesday.</p>.<p>Miffed over the thin presence of party leaders in the meeting, Sahastrabuddhe warned the absentees of consequences, adding that all party workers have to support the candidate chosen by the party high command.</p>.<p>Six Lok Sabha seats, which are going to poll on April 29, are markedly devoid of the Sadhvi factor.</p>.<p>These are Jabalpur, Mandla, Chhindwara, Balaghat ( Mahakoshal) Shahdol and Sidhi (Vindhya). The campaign in these seats is peaking, with BJP banking on the Prime Minister’s image and the Congress largely hoping to capitalise on twin planks of Rahul Gandhi’s 'Nyay' and Kamal Nath government’s loan waiver for farmers. </p>.<p>Each of these constituencies has local factors that trump other national and state issues. Barring Chhindwara, the remaining five seats were won by the BJP in 2014. The Congress had won 21 out of 31 seats in Mahakoshal, largely due to the popularity of the region’s tallest leader and Chief Minister Kamal Nath.</p>.<p>BJP’s state president Rakesh Singh, who is pitted against Congress’s Vivek Tankha in Jabalpur, also hails from Mahakoshal.</p>.<p>A senior BJP leader from Mahakoshal said the party misread people’s mood by fielding Pragya Singh, who was jailed by the Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s government in 2007 for her suspected role in the murder of her companion Sunil Joshi.</p>.<p>Given the adverse impact of the Pragya Singh’s presence in the poll arena and her embarrassing utterances, the BJP is reported to have shelved the plan to target the Congress for her “victimisation in the name of Hindu terrorism” in the seats other than Bhopal.</p>
<p>Rest of Madhya Pradesh has little resonance with the communally charged, high-decibel electoral battle being fought between Congress’s Digvijay Singh and Malegaon blast accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur in Bhopal.</p>.<p>The idea of polarising the election across Madhya Pradesh by fielding the controversial Sadhvi is proving counter-productive.</p>.<p>Contrary to the central BJP leadership’s expectation, the party candidates in the remaining 28 seats are avoiding mention of the Sadhvi’s ‘ordeal’ to solicit votes.</p>.<p>After her imperious style of campaigning in Bhopal, her offensive remarks about 26/11 martyr Hemant Karkare and her boast about climbing atop the Babri mosque have alerted other candidates to the perils of playing the Hindutva card in their respective constituencies.</p>.<p>In fact, the Sadhvi is struggling to find a support base in Bhopal itself, as was evident with the absence of a large number of BJP people’s representatives, including MLAs and corporators, in a meeting called by the party’s national vice president Vinay Sahastrabuddhe on Tuesday.</p>.<p>Miffed over the thin presence of party leaders in the meeting, Sahastrabuddhe warned the absentees of consequences, adding that all party workers have to support the candidate chosen by the party high command.</p>.<p>Six Lok Sabha seats, which are going to poll on April 29, are markedly devoid of the Sadhvi factor.</p>.<p>These are Jabalpur, Mandla, Chhindwara, Balaghat ( Mahakoshal) Shahdol and Sidhi (Vindhya). The campaign in these seats is peaking, with BJP banking on the Prime Minister’s image and the Congress largely hoping to capitalise on twin planks of Rahul Gandhi’s 'Nyay' and Kamal Nath government’s loan waiver for farmers. </p>.<p>Each of these constituencies has local factors that trump other national and state issues. Barring Chhindwara, the remaining five seats were won by the BJP in 2014. The Congress had won 21 out of 31 seats in Mahakoshal, largely due to the popularity of the region’s tallest leader and Chief Minister Kamal Nath.</p>.<p>BJP’s state president Rakesh Singh, who is pitted against Congress’s Vivek Tankha in Jabalpur, also hails from Mahakoshal.</p>.<p>A senior BJP leader from Mahakoshal said the party misread people’s mood by fielding Pragya Singh, who was jailed by the Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s government in 2007 for her suspected role in the murder of her companion Sunil Joshi.</p>.<p>Given the adverse impact of the Pragya Singh’s presence in the poll arena and her embarrassing utterances, the BJP is reported to have shelved the plan to target the Congress for her “victimisation in the name of Hindu terrorism” in the seats other than Bhopal.</p>
