The region of Gwalior Chambal is facing unique churning these days. After Jyotiraditya Scindia switched sides to Bhartiya Janta Party from Congress, his new party is witnessing shivering beneath its political base. Local heavyweights like Prabhat Jha, Jai Bhan Singh Pavaiya, Narottam Mishra, and Scindia's paternal aunt Yashodhara Raje, who are the face of the party in the region, have sent tremors within party setup. With by-elections approaching, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has begun firefighting.
Shivraj Singh Chouhan met Jai Bhan Singh Pavaiya the other day and tried to defuse his dissent. The meeting lasted for more than half an hour. DNA has learned that Shivraj Singh Chouhan tried to convince the former National Convenor of Bajrang Dal that his interests will be taken care of. Forner minister in Shivraj's cabinet Jaibhan Sing Pavaiya is considered a strong Hindu face and was a vocal critic of Gwalior's palace politics.
Another BJP leader who thrived criticizing palace politics is BJP vice president Prabhat Jha. Jha too is considered to be sulking ever since he was denied one more Rajya Sabha term. He has been BJP's MP media-in-charge and is editor of party mouthpiece "Kamal Sandesh". He was sent to Gwalior with an assurance that he would be made in-charge of 16 Gwalior-Chambal assembly seats that would be going to polls very shortly. But this has not been announced officially yet.
With party organizing a mega membership event the political thermometer has risen in the region. Though experts feel that this heat is felt only within BJP cadres. The reason for this is the non-involvement of local satraps. Paternal aunt of Jyotiraditya, Yashodhara Raje Scindia, who happens to be a cabinet minister in Shivraj Singh Chouhan's council of ministers is not to be seen active in any such event.
Similarly, one more heavyweight in the party and home minister of the state Narottam Mishra has kept himself at a safe distance from party activities citing corona scare. Mishra did not participate in the three-day-long mega membership drive organized by BJP to accommodate Scindhia 12000 Scindia supporters.
On the other hand, Congress has termed the membership drive as fake. Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh quoted a tweet from Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC). This tweet claimed that former Congress MLA Munnalal Goyal used fake names to increase the number of Congress workers joining BJP during Scindia's membership campaign. Digvijaya Singh alleged that MR. Goyal is doing what BJP has been expert at- Faking.
Talking to reporters in Bhopal on Wednesday, Home Minister Narottam Mishra launched a scorching counter-attack on saying that Congress party's 'A-Class' leaders never interact with the public. B grade leaders have been deputed to deal with people, but they do not have decision making power. "From Delhi to Madhya Pradesh Congress leadership is in shambles," he said.
27 seats are going for a by-election in Madhya Pradesh after, former Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia switched sides to BJP in March this year. This lead to a change of government in Madhya Pradesh and Shivraj Singh Chouhan again becoming Chief Minister of the state for the fourth term.
Though Scindia is the tallest leader in Gwalior-Chambal region to which Congress has no match, BJP still needs to get its camp in order to leave the opposition party without any chance of pulling out a surprise in coming by-elections.
