By Manish Shrivastava Bhopal, Jan 14 (PTI) The outcome of upcoming by-electionsto Mungaoli and Kolaras assembly seats will be watched keenlyas it would be a pointer to the general mood in the BJP-ruledMadhya Pradesh which is going to polls later this year.
Both the BJP and Congress are confident of the victoryon the two seats, currently held by the Congress, that fallunder Guna Lok Sabha constituency, the pocket-borough ofCongress stalwart Jyotiraditya Scindia.
The bypolls were necessitated due to the death ofsitting Congress MLAs Mahendra Singh Kalukheda (Mungaoli) andRam Singh Yadav (Kolaras).
The schedule for the byelections is not announced yet.
For Scindia, retaining both the seats in his home turfis a battle of prestige as he is positioning himself as thechief ministerial candidate of the Congress.
Aware of the high stakes involved, the Gwalior royalhas been constantly touring these two seats in a bid to wardoff the saffron challenge.
On its part, the BJP has dispatched a string ofCabinet ministers for campaigning while Chief Minister ShivrajSingh Chouhan has offered various sops to woo voters in theregion.
The Congress, buoyed by its improved performance inlast year's Gujarat polls and by retaining the Chitrakoot seatin the bypoll, is confident of victory.
Scindia has accused Chouhan of making "hollowpromises" to people.
"During the Shivpuri bypoll in 2007, Chouhan had made146 announcements. But, in the last 10-11 years, only two outof them have been implemented," Scindia told PTI.
Similarly, during Ater bypoll (in 2017), the CM hadmade about 300 announcements while in Mungaoli and Kolaras, hehas made 425 promises so far, but nothing materialised onground, the former Union minister said.
Chouhan, keen to snatch the two seats from theCongress, had recently announced a slew of measures for thepeople of the region which include a Rs 1,000 monthlyassistance for tackling malnutrition among Saharia tribals whoform a major chunk in Kolaras and Mungaoli.
"The Congress MP (Scindia) had not done anything inthe two constituencies in the name of development since lastmany years," Madhya Pradesh Cooperatives Minister VishwasSarang told PTI over the weekend.
He said the state government was working for thepeople of the assembly segments and helping them with measureslike digging tubewells, constructing ponds and providingfacilities for those living below poverty line.
"However, the Congress is complaining to the ElectionCommission against us despite the fact that the schedule forthe by-polls is yet to be announced," the minister said.
When asked about the BJP's prospects, Sarang said, "Weare 100 per cent confident of winning the two by-polls as thechief minister is committed towards the development of thepeople".
However, Madhya Pradesh Congress chief spokespersonKK Mishra alleged that Chouhan was remembering the people onlyat the time of the bypolls.
"If the chief minister had taken care of people in thelast 14 years, then he won't have to worry about the bypollsnow. He just fooled them by making announcements which he hadnever implemented," he told PTI.
Mishra said Chouhan was making "tall promises" to lurevoters.
"As the bypolls are on the anvil, the chief ministeris again making tall promises to lure voters, but this timethey will not fall into his trap and teach him a lesson asthey did in Chitrakoot," Mishra said.
Another Congress spokesman Pankaj Chaturvedi said thatthe BJP was employing various "tactics" to "distract" votersfrom real issues, but would not succeed.
"Voters are not trusting the ruling party anymore asit has not done anything for their development," he said.
Congress had last year retained the Chitrakoot seatwith an impressive margin of over 14,000 votes.
The victory was mainly credited to Leader ofOpposition Ajay Singh as the Chitrakoot segment falls underhis stronghold.
Singh, a prominent Congress leader in Madhya Pradesh,is believed to be one of the contenders for the chiefminister's post should the Congress win the elections laterthis year.
It is crucial for the BJP to wrest these two seatsfrom the Congress as a loss could adversely shape theperception against the ruling party.
Moreover, the defeat in the bypolls could also give ahandle to Chouhan's detractors within the party to demand hisreplacement on the ground of anti-incumbency.
Similarly, a defeat in the byelections would be viewedas a setback for Scindia who is trying to set in order thefaction-ridden Congress unit. PTI MAS ADUNSKSRE.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.