Politically 2014 was the best year for the BJP and Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh personally and perhaps worst for the Congress and the Pradesh Congress Chief Arun Yadav. After registering resounding victory in the Vidhan Sabha elections held in the last month of 2013, the BJP won all the Lok Sabha seats, barring two.

The Victory chariot of the BJP also retained all the Municipal Corporations elections for which were held in 2014, also won majority of Municipal Committees and Nagar Parishads.

As for the Congress after its worst performance in 2013 Vidhan Sabha elections it could manage to retain only two Lok Sabha seats. They too could not be described as Congress victory. Because they were personal victory of Jyotiraditya Scindia and Kamal Nath.

In the elections to the Local bodies Arun Yadav was left alone by other senior leaders of the Congress. All the important leaders of the Madhya Pradesh Congress including Kamal Nath, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Digvijay Singh did not care to extend helping to Arun Yadav. After its worst performance in the Vidhan Sabha election the Congress machinery was totally overhauled. Kantilal Bhuria, under whose presidentship Congress suffered humiliating defeat, was given marching orders. He was replaced by Arun Yadav, whose father Subhash Yadav was one of important figures of the Congress. Arun Yadav and OBC leader failed to deliver goods.

Now the Congress is in a bad shape and its revival as a force to reckon with seems to be an uphill task. While politically 2014 was the best period for Shivraj Singh, his image and the image of the BJP suffered to great extent because the exposure of several cases of corruption. The state emerged as a cesspool of corruption largely because of series of scandals-what is now known as Vyapam scam.

Hundreds of persons have been found guilty of malpractices in the exams conducted by Vyapam. The most prominent among them is Laxmikant Sharma, who was a powerful minister in the Chauhan cabinet and a Confident of Chief Minister. Many other biggies associated with the BJP and Chauhan also got embroiled in the case and are presently behind bars.

KK Mishra, chief Congress spokesperson created a sensation in the political circles by claiming that he had solid evidence to prove direct involvement of Shivraj Singh and his wife in the scam. He claimed that 19 persons from Sadhna Singh’s home town Gondia in Maharashtra were selected for appointments as Transport constables through Vyapam.

Besides the Chief Minister, the Congress also made similar allegations against Union Minister Uma Bharati and Kailash Vijayvargiya, another powerful Minister. Surprisingly, the list also included RSS stalwart Suresh Soni and former RSS chief KS Sudarshan.

The allegations made by the Congress caused a storm in the ruling party. Narottam Mishra, a senior minister issued a statement vehemently denying the allegations. A defamation case was filed against KK Mishra on behalf of the government.

But the Congress continued its attack. Satyadev Katare, leader of the opposition told pressmen that chief minister pressurised State Public Service Commission to select his niece for the post of Deputy Collector.

Former RSS ideologue Govindacharya muddled the waters further by claiming that Chauhan had hatched a conspiracy to defame the RSS leaders.

The fuming bosses of the saffron brotherhood at Nagpur apparently twisted the arms of Chauhan, who, in turn, made the Police Headquarters issue a press note, giving clean-chit to the two senior RSS men.

In the midst of all this, the Congress held an impressive demonstration demanding CM’s resignation and performed many stunts including feeding ‘Gulabjamuns’ to donkeys.

However, then, the BJP, it seems, decided that enough was enough and the government and the party went on the offensive.

As soon as the Opposition moved an adjournment motion on the Vyapam scam in the budget session of the Vidhan Sabha, the Chief Minister requested the Speaker to admit it for debate. After the Congress members – who, it seems, had not done their homework well – had exhausted their ammunition, the BJP launched a vicious counter-attack.

The chief minister began on an emotional note, coming to the defence of his wife. 'Is it a crime to be the chief minister's wife? Will the Congress hit below the belt just because I led the BJP to a third successive victory in the state? Will an innocent woman be targetted without proof?” he said.

And then came the assault. Armed with evidence against the Digvijay Singh government, Chauhan read out to the House how Singh had issued written orders saying that ‘relaxing all rules’ such and such person should be appointed to such and such post.

Besides achieving major victories election Shivraj Singh also took several steps to boost industrialization of the state. In October, the government organised a grand Global Investors' Summit at Indore at a cost of upwards of Rs 25 crore. Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened the show, which witnessed the participation of the who is who of India's corporate and industrial world, besides representatives from abroad. It was claimed that an investment of Rs 4 lakh crore would flow into the State courtesy the summit, with Adani and Ambani together promising that they would pump in Rs 1 lakh crore into the State's economy. How much of the investment would actually come, however, can only be guessed. But the GIS did gave a new sheen to the image of Chauhan, especially with Modi – with whom he was said to share an uncomfortable relationship – showering praises on him at the inaugural ceremony.

Even earlier, Chauhan had managed to dispel rumours that he is on the hit-list of the Modi Sarkar. The appointment of Nandkumar Singh Chauhan as the state BJP chief was a major victory for the Chief Minister. And no less important was his success in getting senior IAS officer Iqbal Singh Bains repatriated to his parent cadre Madhya Pradesh midway through his deputation at the Centre. Bains was appointed as Principal Secretary in the CM's Secretariat. The CM, it seems, felt that Bains was a better crisis manager than his predecessor Manoj Shrivastava.

But as with all other things, the coming of the Modi dispensation brought problems too for the Shivraj government.

Ever since he took over the reins of the government in 2005, Shivraj has had a love-hate relationship with the Centre. While on one hand, the State received the ‘Krishi Karman Award’ from the Union government twice – and the Chauhan government went to town with the achievement – for highest agricultural output among major states, on the other, the CM tried to put the blame for almost everything that went wrong in the State at the Centre’s doorstep. If the farmers were not getting relief for the damage to their crops, it was because the Centre was not releasing funds. If the state was facing power crisis, it was because the Centre was not supplying enough coal to run Thermal power plants to their full capacity. If the roads were full of pot-holes, it was because the Centre was not repairing the National Highways. If Wheat procurement process had been stalled, it was because the DGS&D – a central government outfit – was not providing gunny bags in requisite numbers. If the Wheat procured on MSP was rotting in the open, it was because the FCI was not lifting it in time. And on and on it went.

However, with the BJP in power at the Centre – and that too on its own – the equations changed. Chauhan and his party could no longer shift the blame for everything that went wrong on the Centre

And much to the chagrin of the state BJP, the Centre banned giving bonus to farmers selling their produce to the government at MSP. It also decided to introduce GST, which the state government had opposed with great vehemence earlier. And the state government could not, as much as, squeak.

Towards the end of the year, the BJP got another piece of good news. It virtually swept the urban civic body polls, capturing all the ten Municipal Corporations and a majority of Municipal committees and Nagar Panchayats. The Congress again ended up with a bloody nose.

It is apparent that the BJP has entered the New Year brimming with enthusiasm. As for the Congress, it can only hope that the change in the calendar will bring some good cheer for it. (IPA Service)