BHOPAL: A large number of party MLAs and ministers from BJP-ruled states, particularly Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat, will descend on in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh over the next two months to manage the election for the party. Close to 15 MLAs and ministers from UP have already been given charge of various districts in the poll-bound central Indian state. UP deputy CM Brijesh Pathak has been entrusted with the charge of state capital Bhopal, according to sources.
Seven other ministers of UP have also been given charge of other districts. Among them are Swantantra Dev Singh (in-charge for Satna district), Baby Rani Maurya (Gwalior), Dinesh Pratap Singh (Raisen), Dayashankar Mishra ‘Dayalu’ (Datia district), Kapil Dev Aggarwal (Damoh), Anil Rajbhar (Seoni) and JPS Rathore (Bhopal division). Second-time MLA from Noida and defence minister Rajnath Singh’s son Pankaj Singh has been given the task of poll management in Vidisha district.
Swatantra Dev Singh, former UP BJP chief, in the past was entrusted with the task of winning the three Congress bastions, which remained unconquered in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. His poll strategies and management played a key role in winning the two unconquered Lok Sabha bastions, Jyotiraditya Scindia’s Guna seat and Kantilal Bhuria’s Ratlam-Jhabua seat in the 2019 LS polls.
According to a senior MP BJP’s organisational leader, the central BJP has sent 57 ministers and MLAs, particularly from Gujarat, Maharashtra and UP, to MP for next two months, while the state’s own leaders will be busy in the poll battlefield.
The experiment of engaging BJP leaders and workers from other states in the MP polls was started way back in June. Around 3,000 best booth level workers from various LS constituencies were addressed by PM Narendra Modi in Bhopal on June 27. They had subsequently spent a week in understanding MP. Just a few weeks later, BJP MLAs from various states, were tasked with the work of meeting BJP workers, people in the state.
Pre-planned strategy
Around 3,000 best booth level workers from various LS constituencies were addressed by the Prime Minister in Bhopal on June 27. They had subsequently spent a week in understanding MP with the party workers.