BJP’s ouster from MP has been decided, says Scindia
Senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia on Wednesday said that the results of Mungaoli and Kolaras by-elections have underscored that the BJP’s ouster from power has already been decided. Scindia was addressing a press conference, his first after the Congress won both the by-polls whose results were declared on February 28.
Scindia held the unity among the party’s top leaders in the state as one of the main reasons for the victory. “These by-elections reflected the unity in Congress and this will continue.”
The Congress tasted win in two by-elections last year, a good show in the recent municipal elections and victories in three by-elections in neighbouring Rajasthan, giving strength to the feeling among Congress workers that the tide is turning for the party which has been out of power in the state since 2003.
Fielding question on the reduced margin of victory, Scindia, who led the party’s campaign in the by-elections since both the constituencies fell under his Guna-Shivpuri Lok Sabha constituency, said that chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had staked everything to win these bypolls but still lost. “Chouhan and most of his cabinet colleagues had camped in the area for weeks, money was spent like water, many officials worked in a biased manner, and the chief minister and two of his ministers had to face censure from the election commission due to their electioneering, but ultimately it was a victory of ‘jan bal’ (people’s power) over ‘dhan bal and baahu bal’ (money power and muscle power),” he said.
While the margin of victory for Congress in the Mungaoli seat was over 20,000 votes in the 2013 assembly elections, it fell to 2,124 votes in the bypolls. In Kolaras, the margin fell from 24,953 votes in 2013 to 8,086 votes.
On recent decision of state Congress working committee to take a non-refundable deposit of ~50,000 from all those seeking party ticket for the assembly polls, Scindia said he found nothing wrong with the decision but emphasised that “winnability of the candidate will be the only criterion for giving tickets”.
Refusing to comment on future alliance with the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party, which had supported the Congress in these two by-elections, Scindia said he firmly believed that “all like-minded parties should join hands”.
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