Victories in by-elections in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, both poll-bound States, have revived the Congress’ hopes, with party President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday asserting that these were “signs of change”.
The party won two Assembly by-elections in Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday, and Odisha’s ruling BJD wrested a seat from the Congress. The BJP, which has been in power in Madhya Pradesh since 2003, lost the elections in the State and came a distant second in the Odisha by-poll.
Rahul Gandhi said Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, where his party had earlier wrested two parliamentary and one Assembly seat from the BJP earlier, have shown that winds of “change are coming”.
“Madhya Pradesh ki jagruk janata, matdatao wa Congress karyakartaon ko Kolaras, Mungaoli ki shaandaar jeet ki badhai. Yeh ahankaar tatha kushasan ki haar wa ummeed ki jeet hai. Pahle Rajasthan aur ab Madhya Pradesh ne ssabit kiya ki badlav ki aahat dastak de rahi hai (Congratulations to Madhya Pradesh’s conscious and aware voters and the workers of the Congress on the victory in Kolaras and Mungaoli. This is the defeat of arrogance and bad governance and victory of hope. First Rajasthan and now Madhya Pradesh have proved that winds of change are blowing in the country),” said the Congress President in a note on Twitter.
In Madhya Pradesh, the Congress won Mungaoli and Kolaras Assembly seats, part of the Guna Lok Sabha constituency that is represented by the party’s chief whip Jyotiraditya Scindia.
The by-elections saw Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Scindia engage in a pitched campaign battle. Scindia addressed over 70 rallies and 15 road shows, and the Chief Minister addressed over 40 rallies.
Meanwhile, veteran Congress leader Kamal Nath has called for Scindia to be made the party’s chief ministerial face ahead of Assembly elections later this year. The two have been known to be rivals.
Answering questions at Guna in the presence of Scindia earlier this week, Nath had said, “As I had said earlier — and you must have read it in the newspapers as well — Scindia should be made (the party’s candidate for the CM post)…Apart from political relations, there have been family relations between us ( Scindia and him). I do not have any problem with whatever Rahul Gandhi decides. I do not have any ambition as far as the post is concerned.”