Madhya Pradesh: BJP's strategy of 7 MPs for MP assembly polls' may make difference'
Bhopal: BJP’s move to field seven party MPs including three Union ministers in the November 17 assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh may yield at least a dozen seats, won by Congress in the last assembly elections, sources said on Friday.
The party expects them to help win at least a couple of seats besides the assembly constituencies they have been fielded in the polls, a member of the party’s war room told this newspaper on Friday.
“We hope the move will get us 12-15 seats, lost by the party in the 2018 assembly elections, in this poll”, the BJP functionary said, requesting not to be quoted.
The party has also fielded BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya in the assembly polls and set him a target to ensure victory of the party in the region of his influence, besides winning his seat, sources said.
The seven MPs including the three Union ministers, Narendra Singh Tomar, Prallhad Patel and Faggan Singh Kulaste, have been fielded in the assembly constituencies falling under their respective Lok Sabha seats.
The party has focused particularly on the Gwalior-Chambal and Mahakoshal regions, where BJP had fared badly in the last assembly elections, while taking the move to field the MPs in the assembly elections, he added.
The two regions comprise 72 assembly constituencies.
BJP had lost 46 seats in the two regions in the last assembly polls.
Sources said that the party is expecting tough battles this time in some seats in Bundelkhand and Vindhya regions where BJP had performed well in the last assembly polls.
Around two dozen sitting BJP MLAs were dropped to beat the anti-incumbency noticed in the particular assembly constituencies, sources said.
The seven MPs were among the 78 candidates declared by the party in the first and second lists which were released around a couple of months back to give them enough time to campaign in their seats.
The 78 seats are among the 121 assembly constituencies held by the Opposition parties including Congress in the last several elections.
In the last assembly polls, BJP had secured 109 out of 230 assembly seats, losing power to Congress which had bagged 115 seats, one short of majority.
Congress had then formed the government in the state with the help of two MLAs of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), one legislator of Samajwadi Party (SP) and four independents.
But, the 15-month-old Kamal Nath government collapsed when 22 Congress MLAs resigned from the party in March 2020, leading to formation of government by BJP in the state.
The 22 Congress MLAs later joined BJP.
