The battle for Jabalpur, a BJP stronghold where the party won six of the eight seats in the district in 2013, is being called the battle of the party chiefs.
While the BJP’s Madhya Pradesh chief, Rakesh Singh, is the Lok Sabha member from here, State Congress president Kamal Nath is a nine-term MP from neighbouring Chindwara and enjoys considerable clout in the area.
Given the high stakes for the ruling BJP, the party is seeking to give an extra last-minute push to its campaign with Prime Minister Narendra Modi set to address a public rally here on Sunday.
One of the State’s oldest urban centres and a garrison town during British rule, Jabalpur has turned into a battleground for competing political narratives.
“BJP will get votes in the name of Modi ji ; otherwise, people don’t want to vote for their local candidate here,” said Devi Singh Rathore, a retired Defence Ministry official who lives near the Hanumantaal locality in the Jabalpur North-Central Assembly constituency.
The incumbent MLA is the junior Health Minister, Sharad Jain, who is contesting for a fourth term. His challenger from the Congress is Vinay Saxena, a four-term municipal councillor, who is new to the constituency. The BJP has held the seat for the past three decades.
Making the battle a three-cornered contest is Dheeraj Pateriya, a long-time BJP leader, who turned a rebel after being denied party ticket.
“Even when the Congress was in government, Jabalpur had voted for the BJP,” said Mr. Saxena, as he moved from house-to-house seeking votes in the Futataal area. “This time, the people want to correct this and will bless us,” he said.
The Congress’s main plank comprises issues such as the lack of a proper sewerage, authorities’ inadequate response to repeated outbreaks of dengue and chikungunya, the problem of stray cattle and the decision to declare Jabalpur a “smart city” without public consultation.
“Just three months ago, a person was gored to death by a stray bull,” said Saurabh Sharma, a local Congress leader. “But the government still has no answer,” added Mr. Sharma, who is also leading a campaign against “inflated power bills” raised by a private company that has been entrusted the work by the State government.
“We want to make these elections, a fight on local issues but they [the BJP] want to take it to another level since they face anti-incumbency,” said Babu Vishwa Mohan, a popular Congress leader in the Hanumantaal area.
While the BJP candidate Mr. Jain, declined to speak to The Hindu , citing his campaign schedule, the party’s Jabalpur chief, G.S. Thakur, dismissed all talkof anti-incumbency.
“There would have been anti-incumbency when we wouldn’t have worked. People compare 2003 when the Congress was in power with 2018. Today there are better roads, a much improved power situation, BPL families get rice and wheat at one rupee a kg, scholarships for students and pilgrimage for the elderly. You tell me where is anti-incumbency,” he asked.
Notwithstanding the ruling party’s confident talk, it is not only the eight seats of Jabalpur but the entire Mahakoshal region — including Chhindwara Narsinghpur, Seoni, Balaghat, Katni, Dindori and Mandla — that accounts for 38 Assembly constituencies, which is witnessing an intense electoral battle.
In 2013, the BJP had won 24 seats, and the Congress 13. But this time the Congress aims to change the equation in Mahakoshal.
Chindwara is one of the biggest districts in the region, with eight seats, and the Congress is banking on Mr. Nath’s “Chindwara model of development” to woo voters in other neighbouring areas as well.
‘Chindwara model’
“The development model in Chindwara is second to none,” said Jai Vardhan Singh, son of former chief minister Digvijaya Singh. “Kamal Nath ji has set up BPOs, textile units that are providing local jobs.”
Pointing to the fact that the BJP won four seats in Chindwara in the previous Assembly election, while the Congress won only three, the BJP’s Mr. Thakur said: “Kamal Nath just couldn’t even win all the Assembly seats under his Lok Sabha constituency and, this time, we will improve.”
In the tribal-dominated districts such as Mandla and Dindori, the Congress is banking on winning back tribal votes by highlighting the BJP’s flip flop on the SC/ST Act.
The BJP expects the Congress’s votes to be split by an alliance between the Samajwadi Party and the Gondwana Gantantra Party, a tribal party.
