BJP on shaky ground on 14 LS seats in MP
Ankur Sirothia | TNN | Dec 13, 2018, 20:25 ISTBHOPAL: Winning 114 assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh, Congress has made inroads in every Lok Sabha constituency of the state. Barely six months before Parliamentary polls, the seemingly invincible BJP looks shaky — at least on paper — in its citadel of 15 years.
Going by the 2018 scoreline, Congress has an edge in at least 14 of the 29 LS seats heading into 2019 — a stunning comeback from just three seats in 2014. At present, Congress has only Chhindwara, Guna and Ratlam Lok Sabha seats, represented by Kamal Nath, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Kantilal Bhuria. BJP has the rest.
It’s not without reason that soon after handing his resignation to the governor, outgoing CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan said his focus is now on Lok Sabha polls. In an interview with TOI during campaigning for assembly election, Shivraj had said BJP would sweep all 29 LS seats. That seems unlikely now.
On an average, each of the 29 LS constituencies in MP has eight assembly segments. BJP had fielded three of its MPs in the assembly polls — Anup Mishra (Morena), Manohar Unthwal (Dewas) and Nagendra Singh (Khajuraho). Mishra lost and Unthwal and Nagendra Singh won with slim margins.
BJP looks to be on shaky ground in Morena, Gwalior, Damoh, Jabalpur, Mandala, Hoshangabad, Bhopal, Rajgarh, Dewas, Ujjain, Dhar, Khargone, Khandwa and Betul LS seats. It faces its toughest challenge in Gwalior, Rajgarh, Madala, Ujjain, Dhar and Khargone, where Congress has wrested five to seven assembly seats.
On December 9, two days before counting for assembly polls, TOI reported that BJP may have to field at least 12 new faces in 2019 as BJP and its frontal organizations have already commissioned surveys to gauge the public mood. BJP president Amit Shah has called a special meeting of the party’s youth wing in New Delhi on December 15-16 to review preparations for 2019.
BJP has set a target of winning all 29 LS seats in 2019. On Wednesday, after the party accepted defeat, state BJP leaders said they are well aware of the challenge ahead and the leadership needs to rework its strategy. “We will not leave out any possibility in the LS polls. Be it selection of candidates or local factors, everything will be kept in mind,” state BJP spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal said.
Going by the 2018 scoreline, Congress has an edge in at least 14 of the 29 LS seats heading into 2019 — a stunning comeback from just three seats in 2014. At present, Congress has only Chhindwara, Guna and Ratlam Lok Sabha seats, represented by Kamal Nath, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Kantilal Bhuria. BJP has the rest.
It’s not without reason that soon after handing his resignation to the governor, outgoing CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan said his focus is now on Lok Sabha polls. In an interview with TOI during campaigning for assembly election, Shivraj had said BJP would sweep all 29 LS seats. That seems unlikely now.
On an average, each of the 29 LS constituencies in MP has eight assembly segments. BJP had fielded three of its MPs in the assembly polls — Anup Mishra (Morena), Manohar Unthwal (Dewas) and Nagendra Singh (Khajuraho). Mishra lost and Unthwal and Nagendra Singh won with slim margins.
BJP looks to be on shaky ground in Morena, Gwalior, Damoh, Jabalpur, Mandala, Hoshangabad, Bhopal, Rajgarh, Dewas, Ujjain, Dhar, Khargone, Khandwa and Betul LS seats. It faces its toughest challenge in Gwalior, Rajgarh, Madala, Ujjain, Dhar and Khargone, where Congress has wrested five to seven assembly seats.
On December 9, two days before counting for assembly polls, TOI reported that BJP may have to field at least 12 new faces in 2019 as BJP and its frontal organizations have already commissioned surveys to gauge the public mood. BJP president Amit Shah has called a special meeting of the party’s youth wing in New Delhi on December 15-16 to review preparations for 2019.
BJP has set a target of winning all 29 LS seats in 2019. On Wednesday, after the party accepted defeat, state BJP leaders said they are well aware of the challenge ahead and the leadership needs to rework its strategy. “We will not leave out any possibility in the LS polls. Be it selection of candidates or local factors, everything will be kept in mind,” state BJP spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal said.
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