Since 1957, when Madhya Pradesh came on the political map of the country following the State Reorganisation Commission recommendations, Congress held power till 1990 with two brief interruptions of two years each: first in 1967 when the Congress government headed by DP Mishra was overthrown through defection and second in 1997 when Janata party captured power. In 1990 BJP captured power on its own strength. But in 1993 Congress came back to power and Digvijay Singh became chief minister and ruled for two terms. In 2003 Congress lost the elections and BJP formed the government under the leadership of Uma Bharti. After that BJP won two consecutive elections in 2008 and 2013 and is hoping to return for a third time in the elections scheduled for the year end.

The Congress is hoping to bounce back and there is every possibility that it may strike a deal with the BSP. There are indications that parleys for electoral alliance or understanding are going on behind the curtain. However, both the parties have denied such a move. Just the other day spokesmen of both the parties ruled out such possibilities. Denying all media reports about alliance or understanding for the upcoming assembly elections both Congress and BSP told media “even discussions on possible coalition have not started”.

State Congress president Kamal Nath has been reiterating that the party is open for alliance before election with like-minded parties so that the anti-BJP vote-bank does not get “fragmented”. But he also repeatedly clarified that “nothing concrete has happened so far on the alliance front.”

According to Pradesh Congress media committee chairman Manak Agarwal, the alliance will be decided at the level of the high-command and AICC president Rahul Gandhi has indicated a decision before the elections. He, however, asserted that discussions on alliance have not even commenced.

State BSP president Narmada Prasad Ahirwar denied any knowledge of the Congress-BSP understanding for the November assembly polls. “We are baffled by the ‘ek tarfa prachar’ (one sided publicity) quoting the Congress of an alliance”. He said that the question of alliance will be decided by Mayawati, but so far there has been no communication. The BSP has four seats in the 230 member assembly and is preparing to contest the polls solo as in 2008 and 2013. He indicated that the party is preparing to field candidates in all the 230 seats. The BSP has influence over 60-odd seats spread over Chambal and Bundelkhand areas adjoining Uttar Pradesh. In the 2008 assembly elections it secured 8.97% votes. In 2013 the party got 6.29% votes.

Meanwhile, a combination of several organisations, representing upper castes, OBC and minorities, has announced their intention to enter the electoral battle. The coalition is being led by several retired IAS, IPS and IFS officers and their main slogan is to oppose the present system of reservation. Its chief leader Hiralal Trivedi, a senior retired IAS officer and also former member of Information Commission, told IPA that he will try to bring the retired officers into the organisation’s fold. He explained that the Constitution provides for reservation only in electoral and government service, but the state government has extended it to schemes like the distribution of laptops to students benefits to Kisans and other sections of society. “We will go to polls with the demand to scrap such reservations,” Trivedi said. He claimed that in the BJP’s defeat in recent by elections they had played a crucial role. “We will ask retired officers who are enjoying luxurious living in Bhopal to go back to their original homes and tell people that the defective reservation policy has done grave damage to the country,” he said.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh has announced the launch of his ‘Jan Ashirwad Yatra’, which will begin from Ujjain, the holy town of Mahakal and take him to almost all the assembly constituencies of the state. Several BJP leaders, including Ministers, MPs and MLAs, are touring the state to tell the people about the achievements of the Modi and Chouhan governments. But reports reaching Bhopal indicate that the leaders are facing hostile crowds wherever they go. Those who faced the protest include Surendra Patwa, Satya Prakash Meena, MPs Faggan Singh Kulaste, Anup Mishra (nephew of Atal Behari Vajpayee), Gyan Singh, and MLA Shailendra Jain and Rameshwar Sharma. A Congress spokesperson said that these incidents show the BJP has already lost the confidence of the people. (IPA Service)