Direct contest between BJP and Congress in Bundelkhand
Voting will take place today (17 November) for Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections. Everyone’s eyes are fixed on Bundelkhand, the backward and drought-prone region of the state. BJP has had the upper hand here for the last two decades. There is a direct contest between the saffron party and Congress. At the same time, due to being adjacent to Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party also sweat and get success. Both the parties keep pricking Congress and BJP like a noose around the neck.
There are six districts in Bundelkhand region, which include Damoh, Sagar, Chhatarpur, Tikamgarh, Panna and Niwari. There are 26 seats in this area, which are considered most important in the politics of the state. 6 seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes. If we talk about development, there is a diamond mine in Panna district. Despite this, this area is considered backward. There has been drought, economic inequality, malnutrition, illiteracy, poverty, migration and caste conflict here for decades. Due to drought, the condition of farming remains poor and farmers are not able to move towards prosperity.
If we talk about the last elections i.e. 2018, BJP had hoisted the victory flag on 17 out of 26 seats. Congress had won only seven seats. Apart from this, Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party had won one seat each, while 2 went to other parties. BJP has been showing its strength for the last 20 years. It won 20 seats in 2003, then 14 in 2008 and 20 in 2013. However, Congress has also improved its performance in the last few years. In the year 2003 it had got only two seats. After this, eight seats were won in 2008, six in 2013 and seven in 2018 elections.
SP and BSP vote cutting parties
In Bundelkhand, SP and BSP are called vote cutting parties because they break into the vote bank of both BJP and Congress parties and spoil the game. Samajwadi Party’s sole MLA Rajesh Shukla had left the party and joined BJP, while BSP’s Ramabai had avoided joining the saffron party and had clearly refused.
The BJP government has played a big gamble to bring Bundelkhand in the race for development. For this, it approved Bundelkhand Package and Ken Vetva Link Project. Apart from this, development works like Bundelkhand Expressway, Bina Refinery, irrigation schemes and construction of roads are being done.
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Congress hopes BJP will suffer loss in Bundelkhand
BJP claims that through Ken Vetva Link Project, 10 lakh hectares of land will be irrigated and 62 lakh people will get drinking water. Along with this, hydro power can also be generated. At the same time, Congress is hopeful that BJP is going to suffer huge loss from Bundelkhand and it will get a large number of votes as the opposition party. However, the fight between political parties has become interesting and on December 3 it will be known which party’s camel is sitting on which side.
