The BJP’s clean sweep in the Lok Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday would give a sense of relief to Chief Minister Mohan Yadav as well as strengthen his position among several high-profile politicians in the state.
It is more because Yadav has replaced an established politician and four-time former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan. His governance will be judged later as his government is at an early stage right now, but in a short period of time, he earned what his predecessor Chouhan could not do.
BJP won Chhindwara, the last bastion of the Congress in Madhya Pradesh. Although it was the second victory of the right-wing in Chhindwara, the BJP cherished a first-ever victory on its own.
Last time, Jan Sangh leader Sunderlal Patwa, who later became the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, had won Chhindwara Lok Sabha in 1997.
Chhindwara has been a Congress stronghold since the first general election held in 1951. Congress leaders like Raichand Bhai Shah, Bhikulal Chandak and Gargi Shankar Mishra represented Chhindwara between 1951 and 1977.
Kamal Nath, who was close to the Nehru-Gandhi family, was sent to Chhindwara, from where he won nine elections. Kamal Nath vacated the seat in 2018 for his son Nakul Nath, who won Chhindwara despite a massive wave in favour of Primer Minister Narendra Modi.
The BJP, which was struggling to find even a suitable candidate against Kamal Nath or his family members in Chhindwara, tested Vivek Banti Sahu, who succeeded in crushing the Congress in its bastion.
Sahu had earlier contested two Assembly elections on BJP’s symbol against Kamal Nath in 2019 (bypoll) and 2023, but lost.
Senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya, who was cluster in-charge of Chhindwara, has broken several trusted allies of Kamal Nath, including the most trusted – Deepak Saxena, which probably paved the way for Sahu’s victory.
Soon after the results were out, state BJP President V.D. Sharma and CM Mohan Yadav celebrated the victory by offering sweets to each other at party headquarters in Bhopal. Former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan and former state BJP chief Prabhat Jha also joined them later.
