Modi's MP campaign good omen for Congress: Scindia

"He (Modi) is not a stranger to MP. He was the party in-charge of MP polls in 1998, when the BJP got trounced and the Congress government was formed," said Jyotiraditya Scindia. File Photo: A.M. Faruqui

Dismissing the possibility of any gain to the BJP due to Narendra Modi’s campaign in Madhya Pradesh, Jyotiraditya Scindia, the Congress face in Assembly polls in Indore feels the Gujarat Chief Minister’s arrival is a “good omen” for his party and shows that the BJP is “not confident“.

The Union Minister and Guna MP — a choice of Rahul Gandhi as the campaign committee chief of the faction-ridden Congress state unit — said politics or public service is a “marathon, not a sprint”, indicating he is in for a long innings in state politics.

Mr. Scindia, however, downplayed contentions that he is the chief ministerial candidate saying he sticks to his ’lakshmanrekha’ (boundary line) that he is the campaign committee chief of the party and only one among the team of senior party leaders working to oust the BJP government in Indore.

In an interview to

PTI on board a flight from Indore to Bhopal, the Scindia scion, who has been tasked to revive Congress in the BJP-ruled State, reminded that Modi was the BJP’s in-charge of polls in MP in 1998 — the year that saw Congress coming to power.

“Obviously they (BJP) don’t feel confident about the situation in Madhya Pradesh. As far Modi is concerned, he is more than welcome in MP. He is not a stranger to MP. He was the party in-charge of MP polls in 1998, when the BJP got trounced and the Congress government was formed.

“Wherever Modi has gone in the assembly polls, the Congress has come to power, whether it is Karnataka, Himachal, Uttarakhand. So he is more than welcome in MP. He is a good omen for us,” Mr. Scindia said.

Mr. Modi is on a campaign spree in Madhya Pradesh, with scheduled rallies in Guna, Chhattarpur, Sagar and Bhopal.

The young Union Minister has been on a whirlwind tour of the State, assuring people that Congress is united and it’s time to replace the BJP government — which he accuses of being “steeped in corruption“.

The Union Minister, who has already covered meetings in 60 constituencies so far, hopes he will be able to hold around 150 public meetings by the time campaigning comes to an end.

He, however, did not comment when asked about area demarcation among party’s regional satraps.

Describing the Congress manifesto for the state as a “positive blueprint”, Mr. Scindia slammed the Chief Minister for describing the Congress’s promises in the manifesto as a “dying declaration“.

“When people get arrogant with power and make statements like this, then their fall begins. I think that politics must have a certain degree of grace, which is something that the BJP lacks,” the Congress leader, who is referred to as Maharaj, said responding to Mr. Chouhan’s barb.