Madhya Pradesh civic polls: Congress sees ray of hope after Mandsaur win

NEW DELHI: Congress has found a ray of hope in Madhya Pradesh local elections where it has increased its tally, apart from winning three seats in the by-polls in Mandsaur that witnessed killing of farmers.

The elections, held on August 11, were the first ‘test’ for the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government, after five farmers were killed in the Mandsaur police firing. Three wards in Mandsaur — two wards of Shamgar Nagar panchayat and one ward of Garoth panchayat — elected Congress candidates.

The gain is significant as Mandsaur is part of Malwa, an RSS stronghold.


The dissent within was evident as the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, an RSS affiliate, took up cudgels against the Shivraj Singh government.

“The results were satisfactory and at places, the party got unprecedented support. Take, for example, Mandsaur – where all three Congress candidates won,” state Congress president Arun Yadav said, adding that the local body elections were a vote against ‘corrupt practices’ of the state BJP government. Of the 43 seats, 26 went to BJP, while the Congress increased its tally by five, bagging 14 seats.

The Congress victory comes after a spate of routs in local body polls in the state it has been out of power since 2003. Even as Congress celebrates the wins, the results indicate the party needs better organisational skills to take on the BJP government.

Even the farmer’ protests was not capitalised by the Congress completely. The party remains faction-ridden, with senior leaders pulling the party in different directions. It has been difficult for the high command to get leaders like Digvijaya Singh, Kamal Nath, Suresh Pachauri and Ajeya Singh to work together