BJP central leadership likely to steer campaign for polls in Madhya Pradesh
Besides deciding the poll planks and issues that will be central to the campaign, the central high command will also take a call on whether to project chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan as the face of the election
NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party’s central leadership will steer the party’s election campaign in Madhya Pradesh, where anti-incumbency against chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has emerged as a cause of concern, said people aware of the details.
Polling to elect the 230-member Madhya Pradesh legislative assembly is scheduled for later this year, along with Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram. (Representational image)
Besides deciding the poll planks and issues that will be central to the campaign, the central high command will also take a call on whether to project Chouhan as the face of the election, as is done in states with an incumbent chief minister, the people said, seeking anonymity.
Chouhan has been the chief minister in the state since 2005 and was ousted from power for 15 months when the party lost the 2018 assembly polls, only to return in 2020 when over a dozen Congress legislators, led by Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, joined the party.
“Even though he is the party’s most recognisable face in the state with a track record of having delivered welfare schemes, and popular among the women and the backward castes, the feedback from the ground suggests that people, particularly the young, prefer a change,” a party functionary said.
