Can Scindia win Guna's hearts for BJP after losing it in 2019?

Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Madhavrao Scindia who lost the Guna seat in Madhya Pradesh back in 2019 has been granted another chance by the BJP as his name was listed in the first list of the party for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

In a significant shift from its historical loyalty, the Guna Lok Sabha seat, which has been traditionally represented by the Scindias since 1957, saw Jyotiraditya Scindia being defeated by BJP's KP Yadav in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. This loss had a profound impact on Scindia, as it marked a departure from the long-standing support of the people of Guna towards the Scindia family.

Speaking on being given a chance to contest for BJP from Guna, the Minister said "It is a great privilege for me that the top leadership of @BJP4India has given me the opportunity to serve the sisters and brothers of Guna. For this trust, I heartily thank the Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi ji, Home Minister Shri @AmitShah ji and National President Shri @JPNadda ji. I hope and believe that my God-like people of Guna will give me their blessings. I will do my best to live up to their expectations in every way. Once again Modi government!"



The political scenario in Madhya Pradesh saw a shift when the Congress, led by Kamal Nath, formed the government with support from various parties in 2018. However, the government collapsed after 15 months when a group of Congress MLAs, mostly loyal to Jyotiraditya Scindia, switched sides to the BJP in March 2020.

The saffron party on Saturday released a 195-long list of candidates that it has selected for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. The list included central faces of BJP such as Narendra Modi, Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah and others.

Another list of candidates will come after the CEC meeting which is expected to be held next week to discuss further names. The announcement of the first list at a press conference at the party headquarters here follows an over five-hour-long meeting of the BJP's Central Election Committee (CEC) on Thursday night.

The CEC members, which included Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party's national president J P Nadda and Union ministers Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh, had discussed the probables for states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Goa and Uttarakhand among others to finalise the nominees.

The BJP won 303 seats in the 2019 polls but currently it has 290 members in Lok Sabha for various reasons including some MPs recently resigning after winning assembly polls.