Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior-Chambal Belt to Test Jyotiraditya Scindia’s Loyalty And Royalty – News18

You know you are entering the Jyotiraditya Scindia battleground when you begin to see campaign vans of the Bharatiya Janata Party with the aviation minister featuring prominently alongside the chief minister and Prime Minister. The Gwalior-Chambal area of Madhya Pradesh was fertile ground for the Congress in the previous polls when it won 26 of the 34 assembly seats here. Scindia was then with the Congress. And Kamal Nath formed the government. But it didn’t last long as Scindia engineered a split with 22 of his MLAs and walked over to the BJP. The government collapsed and in the bypolls the MLAs won on BJP tickets. Scindia became the star of the BJP but earned the label of a betrayer from the Congress, with Rahul Gandhi accusing him of falling prey to the temptations of power.

But as Madhya Pradesh heads for a high-octane election, all eyes are on the Scindia belt. At least 12 of his associates have been given tickets and he himself has escaped contesting the MP polls.

At my first stop in Guna, at a Rajasthani tea stall, the crowd got agitated when I asked whether the Congress was right to call Jyotiraditya Scindia a traitor. “He has done the right thing by joining the BJP. It’s because of him that Kamal Nath could become the CM. Scindia should have been made the CM. See, when Maharaj was in the Congress, he lost from Guna. He will never lose now,” said a local. Guna is a BJP stronghold and the voters say work has been done and hence the upcoming polls cannot be seen as a challenge or do-or-die situation for Scindia.

But it’s also a fact that the BJP will be watching closely whether Scindia can deliver this time. In the last Madhya Pradesh polls, the Congress had done well here. The local workers say they will take revenge and ensure that Maharaj pays the price for betrayal.

At the Digvijaya Singh stronghold of Raghogarh, which is about an hour’s drive from Guna, the josh is high. His son and two-time MLA Jaivardhan Singh tells News18, “It was his (Scindia’s) decision to leave. We had good equations with him including my dad, contrary to media reports. But he chose to go to the other side because he wanted something. A post. I am sure the voters will answer back.”

In Gwalior, the loyalty remains unflinching for Scindia. At the Bada Bazar, the shopkeepers are mum but refuse to buy the argument that Scindia faces a test. However, the infighting within the BJP’s local unit cannot be denied.

Some BJP leaders of the local unit complain on condition of anonymity, “We have been attacking him and his supporters for so many years. Today we are expected to work along with him. But he has his own team. They don’t even bother to speak to us.”

It’s this clash that poses a challenge for the BJP. And this is something that Scindia has to ensure doesn’t hamper his chances of delivering a winning performance.

The Maharaj faces his biggest royal challenge.