During his stay in Bhopal Shah held a four hour meeting with 12 top leaders including chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, state BJP president VD Sharma, Union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Prahalad Singh Patel, Faggan Singh Kulaste, BJP national general secretaries Murlidhar Rao, Kailash Vijayvargiya, Shivprakash and other leaders. BJP national general secretary BL Santosh was also present.

Sources in the party claimed there was detailed discussion on seats that the BJP lost in 2018 assembly polls. A roadmap is being worked out to win back these seats, especially in tribal areas where the Congress bagged 31 of the total 47 seats in the last assembly elections. In total, the BJP secured 109 seats while Congress got 114, SP got one seat, BSP two and independents won four constituencies. BJP’s major loss was in Gwalior-Chambal, Malwa-Nimar and the Mahakaushal region.

Three months before the assembly elections, the ruling party will take out a Vijay Sankalp Yatra. It will start in the first week of September from Ujjain and roll throughout the state. A suggestion has also been given that Vijay Sankalp Yatras should be simultaneously started from four or five cities in the state.

A senior BJP leader said, “Before 2008, 2013 and 2018 assembly elections, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan went on a Jan Ashirwad Yatra which was a people contact programme touching a 230 assembly seats. This time, it will be the Vijay Sankalp Yatra but all prominent leaders will be given the responsibility to lead the yatra in different parts of the state”.

The source said “The party will decide which of the leaders will lead the yatra and in which districts. We expect that the Vijay Sankalp Yatra will not only be led by chief minister Chouhan but also by Narendra Singh Tomar, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kaiash Vijayvargiya, Narottam Mishra and other leaders in their areas of influence”.

A senior party leader claimed that Amit Shah has asked senior leaders to pacify unhappy members of the party by giving them specific roles in elections and including them in various election committees to be announced soon.Amit Shah will address a meeting of senir leaders next week in Indore.

The Congress chose to launch fierce attack on BJP during the presence of Amit Shah in Bhopal. They used a woman leader to do this. The woman leader, Shobha Oza, a former Mahila Congress national president claimed that women are not safe in Madhya Pradesh, she alleged that the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government puts up a façade of being a women-friendly regime and said that NCRB report reveals that Madhya Pradesh has the largest number of offences committed against women and the girl child.

Oza said that while maximum number of girls go missing from the state even boys are victims of such unexplained disappearances. “The Shivraj Singh Chouhan government makes tall claims with schemes like Ladli Laxmi and Ladli Behna to show that it is women friendly government. The chief minister also mentions “Pyare Bhanjauon aur Bhanjiyon (dea nephews and nieces)’ in his speeches but this is a devious conspiracy by him to hide the reality and to divert the attention from the atrocities committed in the state.” Oza alleged, adding “The BJP has failed to explain why Madhya Pradesh remains number one in crimes against women, girls and children in every successive NCRB report.

Shobha Oza argued that cases of rape, gang rape, torture, assault, dowry harassment, domestic violence and molestation against women and girls are increasing continuously in Madhya Pradesh. And because of this an atmosphere of fear prevails among women, girls and their families.

Quoting NCRB data, OZa argued, “According to this figure our state has maximum number of cases of missing girls in the country. And girls are not the only victims of missing persons’ cases reported. A large number of boys also go missing from the state and hence it is clear that the state is incapable of protecting children. The Government of Madhya Pradesh, its Chief Minister and the Home Minister have proved to be completely incompetent.”

She said that according to the latest data presented in the Lok Sabha by the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development, from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2023 (which is the last five years) 61,102 children went missing in the state out of which 49,024 are girls and 12,078 are boys. (IPA Service)