For old guard, a make-or-break battle in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh

NEW DELHI: As Congress and BJP face off in a direct contest in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, the state leaderships on both sides face high-stakes make-or-break battles.For Congress, the spotlight will be on the old guard of Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh in MP and Ashok Gehlot in Rajasthan. With GenNext knocking on the doors, the septuagenarians are vying for a final shot at glory as state satraps. In contrast, BJP satraps appear to be faced with a shrinking clout in the party's scheme of things. CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan is walking a tightrope in Madhya Pradesh despite four terms while former CMs Vasundhara Raje (Rajasthan) and Raman Singh (Chhattisgarh) face a tough road to reclaim their glory as the party's rallying figures in the two states. Both are far from calling the shots in their territories as before. Nath did well in 2018 to emerge as the consensus candidate in the highly factionalised MP Congress. While the party had been reluctant to project Digvijaya Singh, who had been a two-term CM and an easy target for BJP's "bantadhar" jibe because of the degradation of infrastructure on his charge, he was not agreeable to Jyotiraditya Scindia who was relentless in pushing for his anointment as the party face. In walked Nath, whom Singh accepted as the alternative and the deadlock was broken. Nath ensured much-desired unity in Congress, which went on to unseat the 15-year-old BJP government led by Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Scindia's defection, going by the party's claim, has not weakened Congress in his Gwalior-Chambal region. The party indeed did very well in the local body polls. All along, Nath stayed put in Bhopal and announced he will try to avenge his humiliation by BJP, which toppled his government. This election, again, he appears well supported by Singh and others, as Congress is running a well-coordinated campaign. For Singh, a return to state politics is ruled out. But a Congress victory would entrench his status as the lubricant in the party's MP machine, besides paving the way for his MLA son Jaivardhan Singh's further ascendance in state politics. In Rajasthan, Gehlot has been battling a challenge from Sachin Pilot. Through his political wiles and public support, he has earned another chance and is going for glory on the wings of the famed resilience he exhibited to save his government during the rebellion of 2020. Aware that history was the biggest obstacle in his bid for a successive term, the "jadugar" has reinvented the game. He made a mountain out of the 2022 state budget, unveiled rights-based welfare schemes, announced massive restructuring of districts and has now capped the spree with a caste census. The soft-spoken but cunning politician has been on a year-long statewide campaign to woo voters, reconnecting through rural Olympics, budget campaigns, implementation workshops on welfare schemes and cash transfers. He has never tried this hard for a re-election and is also banking on "infighting" in BJP to beat history.