Battle of the Bastions: Will BJP wrest Chhindwara from Congress?
Congress candidate and serving Chhindwara Lok Sabha MP Nakul Nath alongside BJP's Vivek 'Bunty' Sahu
Over 300 km south of Madhya Pradesh capital Bhopal and about 940 km away from New Delhi's corridors of power, Chhindwara is an undeniable bastion of the Congress party, which even at the lowest of its political fortunes in 2019, elected grand old party's Nakul Nath to Lok Sabha. Congress has won a whopping 17 of the 18 Lok Sabha Elections since 1952 in Chhindwara, and the constituency holds distinction as the last of the bastions for the Congress party which survived the juggernaut of PM Modi's populism in 2014 and 2019.
"Chhindwara is one of India's precious few 'safe' parliamentary seats, meaning the incumbent can safely expect to get re-elected, and one of the few that consistently rewarded its representative for delivering on development," wrote author-investor Ruchir Sharma in his 2019 book 'Democracy on the Road'.
Chhindwara has elected Kamal Nath for a whopping nine terms between 1980 and 2019. The Gandhi loyalist, who became friends with former PM Indira Gandhi's son Sanjay at the Doon School in Dehradun, was succeeded as Chhindwara MP by his wife Alka in 1996 Lok Sabha Elections. The only loss Congress faced was in 1997 bypollwhen former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Sunder Lal Patwa beat Kamal Nath by over 37,000 votes.
Kamal Nath then wrested Chhindwara from the BJP in 1998, and held on to it till 2019, winning five elections in a row. His son Nakul Nath won in 2019 in a hotly contested election to save his family bastion.
"I later asked a leading Indian industrialist how it was that leaders like Nath and [Sharad] Pawar could develop VIP constituencies, yet the mighty Gandhis could not do the same for Amethi," Sharma wrote further, referring to the way the Congress party struggled to get fifth generation Gandhi-Nehru scion Rahul Gandhi from Amethi in 2014. Five months after January 2019 when Ruchir's book was published, Amethi pronounced its verdict against Rahul Gandhi by electing the BJP's Smriti Irani.
For the Congress party, Amethi became a bastion subtracted. The spotlight is now on Chhindwara that elected Congress party amid BJP's attempts to redeem PM Modi's popularity in the constituency.
"He said it was about playing the game: figures like Nath and Pawar are on friendly terms with private business people and will not hesitate to tap them for development funds and assistance. The Gandhis are too wary of private business to make the necessary connections or call in direct favours," Sharma added.
But ahead of 2024 polls, the ruling BJP has invested its full might to wrest Chhindwara from Congress, after taking up a legion of the Nath loyalists in the constituency.
Nakul Nath is pitted against BJP's district president Vivek 'Bunty' Sahu, who claims to be "Chhindwara’s real son" and paints Nakul as an "outsider dynast".
Trending Stories
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
)
)
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
)
The BJP has claimed to have inducted over 2,000 Congress leaders and workers in Chhindwara, including Amarwara’s MLA Kamlesh Pratap Shah, mayor Vikram Ahake and several councillors.
Also watch |Nakul Nath emerges as the 'richest' Lok Sabha candidate
Nath is also the richest Lok Sabha candidate in election fray with assets worth about ₹697 crore, an political liability that the BJP has publicised locally.
With election fervour muted during silence period after April 17, the voters of Chhindwara will either create or repeat the history.
Chhindwara will vote on April 19. The counting of votes is scheduled to take place on April 4.