By-elections in Guna turn into Shivraj Singh Chouhan-Jyotiraditya Scindia super-fight

MUNGAOLI/KOLARAS(MP): 'Abki Baar, Shivraj Ki 200 Seat Paar' versus 'Na BJP, Na Shivraj, Abki Baar Scindia Sarkar' - wall paintings with two competing narratives adorn the rural landscape in Mungaoli and Kolaras, the two assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh headed for by-polls on February 24. One claims more than 200 seats in the 230-seat assembly in the state polls later this year for Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP, and the other a Jyotiraditya Scindia-led Congress government.

The upcoming by-polls are being seen as an important warm-up contest between the two leaders, before the main election battle due in December.

Chouhan is putting his all in the campaign for by-polls in what is considered Scindia's bastion - from holding a 30-km long road show in Kolaras on Monday to a 20-km one in Mungaoli on Tuesday and holding massive rallies in both constituencies - to snatch the seats from the Congress to prove that his popularity is not only intact but growing.

"If people make the BJP win here, Mungaoli and Kolaras will get two MLAs apiece - one, our candidate, and the second MLA will be me...," Chouhan told ET on the sidelines of his Mungaoli rally.

Since 2002, Scindia has been the Lok Sabha representative from Guna, under which both assembly seats fall and were won by the Congress in 2013.

Although the Congress is widely expected to win the two seats again, Chouhan appears determined not to let this happen. If the Congress loses it would be a blow to Scindia at a time when he is being seen as a front runner for being declared the party's chief ministerial face against Chouhan in the assembly polls.

Little wonder then, campaign attacks have turned personal. Perhaps for the first time, on Tuesday, Chouhan named Scindia in his rally in Mungaoli, lambasting him for the wall paintings saying 'Abki Baar Scindia Sarkar'. "Abhi to meri sarkar hi hai, aur rahegi (At present it's my government, and it will remain so).

You have written your ambition on the walls. But what have you done for the 411 villages of Mungaoli? You have become an MP so many times but all you do is abuse Shivraj Chouhan day in and out... jab dekho mujhe gaali, meri ninda. Scindia only gives bhashan (speeches) and never speaks of irrigation schemes I brought to the state," the CM said, adding "I think your MP has a problem with development here. He wants you to remain poor as he feels if people prosper here, everyone will start thinking of themselves as a king like him." He said he was not even a burden on the CM's chair given his "simple demeanour and dubla-patla (lean) physique". Both parties are making a show of strength in the two constituencies.

While Scindia and Kamal Nath came for filing of nominations by the Congress candidates in both seats on January 31, Chouhan flanked by Union rural development minister Narendra Singh Tomar and BJP vice president Prabhat Jha visited the constituencies on Monday and Tuesday.

"Like Rahul Gandhi cannot digest Narendra Modi's hard work, Scindia cannot digest Chouhan's hard work as CM," Tomar said in Mungaoli.

The BJP is riding mainly on Chouhan's appeal. "Call me Mama, not CM. All kids call me that, believing I will bring them happiness," Chouhan said, seeking to strike a chord with the crowd instantly as a skull-cap wearing Muslim tied him a pink turban. The party has given the ticket to a woman candidate, Baisaab Yadav, the widow of a former BJP MLA from Mungaoli.