BHOPAL: For the first time in at least two decades, BJP is going into an assembly election in Madhya Pradesh without a chief ministerial face. Ten months before the 2003 polls, it had named Uma Bharti to take on the Congress government under Digvijaya Singh. In later elections, it projected incumbent CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan as its face, but the 2018 loss may have made it rethink its strategy.
In August, when Union home minister Amit Shah was asked if Chouhan would be the BJP's CM face again, he said, "It is our party's job and the party will decide." Shah brought senior leaders from New Delhi, including Union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar, Bhupendra Yadav and Ashwini Vaishnaw, for election management in MP.
The party's second list of candidates had seven MPs, including three Union ministers - Narendra Singh Tomar, Prahlad Singh Patel and Faggan Singh Kulaste - and BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya. At least four of them are potential CM faces.
Then, there is Union aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, without whom BJP wouldn't have formed the government in 2020. He may well be fielded in the assembly polls and is also a strong contender for the top post.
Sources in BJP said the central leadership has fielded big leaders to counter anti-incumbency, hoping they will not only win their seats but also influence at least 10-15 adjoining assembly segments. Who will be chief minister depends on the election results and the work put in by each of the heavyweights.
However, Chouhan is not one to step back. At a rally in tribal-dominated Dindori last Sunday, he said, "I want to ask you, am I running a good government or a bad government... Should Mama (his popular name) become chief minister or not?" Chouhan's comments threw the party off-guard but the state leadership remained tight-lipped.
With the BJP central leadership keeping mum over the chief minister question, it's a free-for-all now.
On October 5, Vijayvargiya said, "I have not come to Indore-1 seat just to become an MLA. I will be given a bigger responsibility by the party."
PWD minister and six-time MLA from Rehli constituency in Sagar, Gopal Bhargava, said, "BJP is fighting the election without a CM face, so I decided to contest."
In a way, the 2023 assembly election is a reversal of roles for Congress and BJP. Congress, which used to be a faction-ridden party that would not name its CM face before an election, seems united behind Kamal Nath this time. AICC general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala has more than once said Nath is the party's CM face. Stalwarts like Digvijaya Singh, Suresh Pachauri, Arun Yadav and Kantilal Bhuria have publicly accepted Nath as their leader.
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