The Congress has come up with a new political strategy to counter the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the Assembly elections to be held in Madhya Pradesh next year.
While the Congress is keen to teach a lesson to those MLAs who toppled its government in the state by defecting to the BJP, the grand old party's political chances will rest solely on state Congress president and former Chief Minister Kamal Nath.
The Congress came to power in Madhya Pradesh in 2018 after a decade-and-a-half but its own MLAs toppled the government after 22 Congress MLAs along with Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia quit the party, taking the total number of Congress MLAs quitting the party to 29.
Kamal Nath has promised to defeat those MLAs who defected from the Congress and toppled its government in 2019.
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The Congress has increased deployment of its party workers in those constituencies won by the defected MLAs.
Recently, the state Congress president visited the Malhara Assembly constituency in Chhatarpur district and slammed the BJP-led state government. The current BJP MLA from the same constituency is Pradyuman Singh Lodhi.
Lodhi had quit the Congress in 2020 and joined the BJP. In 2003, Uma Bharti was also elected as an MLA from the same constituency.
Congress sources say that Kamal Nath's primary emphasis is on those Assembly constituencies where the sitting MLAs quit the Congress, joined the BJP and won the Assembly elections.
Kamal Nath has started the poll campaigning from Malhara constituency and in the coming days he will visit those areas whose MLAs quit the Congress and joined the BJP. 'Ek Nath, Kamal Nath' is the slogan.
The Congress is preparing to fight the upcoming Assembly elections unitedly. Nath is making all efforts to unite the Congress leaders. However, the presence of many prominent Congress leaders is not visible on the ground. Nath is the only visible Congress leader ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections.
Political analysts believe that there will be a direct fight between the Congress and the BJP in the Assembly elections.
The party organisation of both the political parties will play a major role in this election. While the BJP is continuously campaigning at the booth level, the Congress will also have to strengthen its presence there.
The BJP has a long list of poll campaigners while Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh are the only prominent Congress leaders. In such a situation, whichever party is successful in deploying its party workers and prepares an effective strategy will ultimately win the 2023 Assembly elections.
