BHOPAL: Aiming to challenge the ruling BJP in the Gwalior-Chambal region – which was the most closely contested among the five regions in the state in the 2023 assembly polls – the Congress has played the Brahmin-Kshatriya-Yadav card in three Lok Sabha seats, besides fielding candidates from traditional BJP families.
Ending ten days of suspense, the Congress announced its candidates for the three remaining seats – Morena, Gwalior (both in Gwalior-Chambal region) and Khandwa in the southwestern MP region on Saturday.
While ex-BJP MLA Satyapal Singh Sikarwar was fielded from Morena, the party’s former legislator Praveen Pathak was named as the candidate from Gwalior and 2023 assembly poll loser Narendra Patel was fielded from Khandwa.
With this, the Congress has named candidates for all 28 seats it’s contesting in the state, including four seats of the Gwalior-Chambal region. All four seats in the region -- Bhind-SC, Morena, Gwalior and Guna -- go to the polls in the third phase (April 7).
Knowing well the possibility of cracks within the BJP as the polls draw close, the Congress has tried to challenge the saffron party with its old family sons -- Satyapal Sikarwar in Morena and Rao Yadvendra Singh Yadav in Guna.
“There’s a growing feeling in BJP circles that the party in Gwalior-Chambal region is slowly being dominated either by union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia or Vidhan Sabha speaker Narendra Singh Tomar and their loyalists. While both the candidates, Shivmangal Tomar (Morena) and Bharat Singh Kushwah (Gwalior), are sworn Narendra Singh Tomar loyalists, a large section of the old BJP is unhappy over denial of ticket to popular first time MP Dr KP Yadav to field Scindia from Guna. Though the Modi factor is the predominant factor in the polls in Gwalior-Chambal also, the possibility of many BJP cadres silently backing their old family sons, Satyapal Sikarwar in Morena and Rao Yadvendra Singh Yadav in Guna, cannot be ruled out,” a Brahmin leader of the ruling BJP in Morena told The New Indian Express.
In the Morena Lok Sabha seat (which was won by Narendra Singh Tomar in 2009 and 2019) particularly, the ground is already fertile for the Congress, as it won five of the eight assembly segments in the 2023 assembly polls. “Shiv Mangal Tomar who is being seen in some BJP circles as the dummy candidate of Narendra Singh Tomar has won from Dimani assembly seat (which was won by Narendra Singh Tomar in 2023) by 250 odd votes in 2008, but lost from the same seat in 2013 and 2018 by bigger margins. Still he has been named the BJP candidate from Morena. On the other hand, the Congress candidate Satyapal Sikarwar ‘Neetu’ hails from one of the oldest and most powerful BJP families headed by Gajraj Singh Sikarwar. While Gajraj won the Sumaoli assembly seat in 1990 and 2003, his son Satyapal won the same assembly seat in 2013,” another BJP leader from Morena district said.
The Sikarwar family which has a big influence among Kshatriya voters of Morena constituency is now totally with the Congress. While elder brother Satish Sikarwar is the Congress MLA in Gwalior district, Satish’s wife Shobha is the Gwalior mayor. With Satyapal now being named the Congress candidate from Morena, the family will use all its influence among the Kshatriya and Brahmin voters to win the seat, which the Congress won last in 1991.
In the adjoining Gwalior Lok Sabha seat, while the BJP has fielded another Tomar loyalist and ex-minister Bharat Singh Kushwah, who lost the 2023 assembly polls from Gwalior-Rural by over 3000 votes, the Congress has fielded its ex-Gwalior South MLA Praveen Pathak, who failed to retain his assembly seat by merely 200-odd votes in 2023.
The BJP and the Congress had both won four assembly segments each of the Gwalior Lok Sabha seat in 2023. By fielding Praveen Pathak from Gwalior, the Congress is seeking to give a positive signal to Brahmins (who constitute 2-3 lakh votes in the adjoining Morena Lok Sabha seat) and by fielding Sikarwar from Morena, it’s trying to add to Pathak’s popularity the power of the Sikarwar family in Gwalior, thus hoping to do something big in both seats through the targeted Brahmin-Kshatriya chemistry.
In the adjoining Guna seat, the Congress is pinning hopes on the possibility of internal sabotage by BJP cadres against Scindia coupled with the angst of the Yadav caste (the most dominant OBC bloc in the constituency) over the denial of a ticket to first-time MP Dr KP Yadav. To benefit on both counts, the Congress has fielded the traditional BJP family’s elder son Rao Yadvendra Singh Yadav against Scindia in Guna.
