BJP plans yatras to step up outreach in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has decided to intensify its people outreach efforts in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh organising five Jan Ashirwad Yatras (people’s blessings campaign) to reconnect with party workers and inform people about the work done Prime Miner Narendra Modi and chief miner Shivraj Singh Chouhan, party functionaries said on Tuesday. Union miner Amit Shah with Madhya Pradesh chief miner Shivraj Singh Chouhan. (Amit Shah/Twitter) Madhya Pradesh will go to crucial assembly polls later this year, along with Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram, in what has been deemed as the semi-final before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Union home miner Amit Shah, who is leading the BJP’s poll campaign in Madhya Pradesh, had recently directed state leaders to organise rath yatras, to be called Jan Ashirwad Yatras, region-wise, with an aim to touch base with booth-level workers and hear their grievances in a bid to beat anti-incumbency, the functionaries said. Also Read: In poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, Shah seeks to blunt anti-incumbency, infighting In the past one month, Shah has held four meetings with Chouhan, state party chief VD Sharma, Union miners Jyotiraditya Scindia and Narendra Singh Tomar — both of whom come from the poll-bound state — among others, to discuss the road map for the assembly elections later this year and 2024 Lok Sabha polls. “The rath yatras for Jan Ashiward will be carried out from five locations of Madhya Pradesh and participated all key leaders, including Shivraj Singh Chouhan, VD Sharma, Union miners Jyotiraditya Scindia, Narendra Singh Tomar and Prahlad Patel [MoS, food] and party general secretary Kailash Vijaywargiya,” a senior BJP leader said, requesting anonymity. At the later stage of the yatras, senior national leaders, including Prime Miner Narendra Modi, will also participate, a second BJP leader said, also declining to be named. “Not only the CM, but all senior state leaders have been asked to satisfy the grievances of booth-level workers to boost their morale,” the leader added. Also Read: BJP launches campaign to promote PM Modi’s Madhya Pradesh connection Shah’s recent visits came amid reports of rift among senior leaders and internal feud among miners in the BJP-led state government. Shah directed the state unit to develop a united campaign, a functionary had earlier said. “The internal disputes have resolved to a great extent. There is a visible improvement and the campaign in name of PM Modi has already started,” a third BJP leader said. “There is lot of positivity now.” Chouhan has been the chief miner of Madhya Pradesh since 2005 and was ousted from power for 15 months when the BJP lost the 2018 assembly polls, only to return in 2020 when over a dozen Congress legislators, led civil aviation miner Jyotiraditya Scindia, joined the party. As part of the party’s outreach exercise, Chouhan met state’s former finance miner Raghavji (89) during his trip to Vidisha on Monday. Raghavji, a senior Jain leader with considerable influence in Vidisha drict, was expelled from the BJP in 2013 after a case was regered against him in connection with a sex scandal, even as he called it a political conspiracy against him. The Madhya Pradesh high court acquitted him last month. Raghavji said Chouhan discussed several matters related to his personal and political life. “The CM also invited me to Bhopal to discuss the political feedback and suggestions,” he added. Earlier, the BJP appointed former finance miner Jayant Mallaiya, whose son formed his own party for local body polls, as head of the party’s manifesto committee. BJP state president VD Sharma refused to comment on what transpired in meetings with Shah, but sounded confident of winning the 2023 assembly elections with record margin. “We are getting guidance from Union home miner Amit Shahji and we will win with record votes in both assembly as well as Lok Sabha election,” he added. Reacting to the developments, senior Congress leader and party’s campaign committee head Kantilal Bhuria said: “BJP is fighting internally and their leaders have no time to end grievances of common people. Now, the national leaders are coming to Bhopal to settle down the issue.” Political expert Girija Shankar, however, said intervention of the Union miner to end internal fighting would help the BJP electorally. “This is for the first time in Madhya Pradesh that the BJP is doing closed-door meetings more than public meetings. Union home miner Amit Shah is trying to balance the party and ending internal fights. The success of such balance will definitely help the party gain in the elections,” Shankar said. ABOUT THE AUTHOR She is a senior reporter based at Bhopal. She covers higher education, social issues, youth affairs, woman and child development related issues, sports and business & industries. …view detail