Amit Shah's mega show on Tuesday energised BJP cadres to capture Nath's bastion on April 19
By L S Herdenia
BJP is leaving no stone unturned to snatch Chhindwara from Congress – the only seat which it won in 2019.LokSabha polls in Madhya Pradesh. Besides all possible powers, it is also using police to demoralise the Congress candidate Nakul Nath as also his father Kamal Nath, the former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh. Home Minister Amit Shah not only spent night in Chhindwara but also put up a mega road show to impress voters.
In a major show of strength, Union home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday evening led a massive road show in Kamal Nath's turf Chhindwara. The road-show which was scheduled to start at 6 pm, began nearly two hours late as the Union minister reached Chhindwara by road. Shah travelled in an open rath from the town's Fabbara Chowk to the Badi Mata temple, a distance of two kms, with a cut out of the BJP's lotus symbol in hand.
Slogans of Modi-Modi and Jai Shri Ram ranted through the air. People came out on the streets, many stood on the balconies and terraces to see Amit Shah in Chhindwara. Atop the rath, the Union minister was flanked by chief minister Mohan Yadav and state BJP president VD Sharma. Party candidate Vivek Bunty Sahu stood with folded hands in one corner of the rath. Former BJP national general secretary and cabinet minister Kailash Vijayvargiya walked ahead of Amit Shah's rath with thousands of BJP workers.
Chhindwara is the hottest constituency in the state, a seat which BJP has been anxiously trying to win since 2004 but has remained unsuccessful so far. Here former chief minister Kamal Nath's son Nakul Nath is the Congress party's candidate. Junior Nath contested the election in 2019 and won this seat by a margin of 37,536 votes against BJP's Nathan Shah. BJP won 28 out of 29 total seats in the state, except for Chhindwara. In 2024, BJP prime focus is on Chhindwara. For a constituency that always elected the Congress except for once in the bypoll of 1997, Amit Shah's welcome and road-show on Tuesday was a huge surprise. Former CM Digvijaya Singh had claimed, “Chhindwara voted for the Congress even in 1977. And from 1980, it has consistently voted for Kamal Nath. We are winning that seat.”
But two days before polling in the constituency, Amit Shah put up a spectacle when Congress is facing a large exodus of party leaders from the constituency. Many of Kamal Nath's avid loyalists for decades have left him and joined the BJP including sitting MLA from Amarwada assembly seat Kamlesh Shah and former MLA Deepak Saxena.
Amit Shah also took a meeting of party leaders and workers on booth management after the road show. Shah is scheduled to halt the night in Chhindwara to boost the morale of party workers. CM Mohan Yadav will also spend the night in Nath's domain.
Meanwhile A journalist was arrested in Chhindwara on Tuesday for allegedly being involved in the circulation of a ‘fake' video of BJP candidate Vivek Bunty Sahu.
It is in connection with this case that police had gone to Congress stalwart Kamal Nath's house on Monday to question his aide RK Miglani. Police say Miglani has been allowed five days to reply to the notice served to him.
The police action is based on Sahu's complaint of April 10, in which he claimed that a fake video was being circulated to tarnish his image ahead of the Lok Sabha election.
On April 13, local journalist Sudesh Nagvanshi lodged an FIR, alleging that local scribe Sachin Gupta and Miglani tried to involve him in circulating the video and offered Rs 30 lakh.
On Monday, a large police contingent entered the residence of former CM Kamal Nath and questioned Miglani for nearly an hour. Miglani has denied being questioned and said he was served a notice, which he “would respond to after the election”.
The highlight of the day was when Maharaja and Raja filed papers from Guna and Rajgarh.
Maharaja of Gwalior Jyotiraditya Scindia and Raja of Raghogarh Digvijaya Singh, both filed their nomination papers on the auspicious Ashtami day of the Chaitra Navratri after offering prayers to the Gods. Union minister for civil aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia reached the Hanuman Tekri temple in Guna on Tuesday morning wearing a red dhoti and a saffron angavastram.
“Today, I am taking the pledge to move ahead on the path of public service. That is why, I came to take the blessings of Tekri Sarkar,” he told reporters. He claimed that the NDA's target of 400 plus seats in the Lok Sabha will be fulfilled under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
On the other hand, former chief minister and Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh offered prayers at the Jalpa Mata temple in Jowalpura, Rajgarh. Later, he filed his nomination papers as Congress candidate from Rajgarh constituency at the Rajgarh district collectorate. His wife Amrita Rai was present during the nomination filing along with other local Congress leaders. Digvijaya Singh, however, did not make a big show. He requested Congress workers not to follow him to the collector's office but to go to the booths and campaign for the elections.
(IPA Service)
