MP polls: Rival parties locked in fierce freebie-filled fight to win heart of India

Bhopal: A fierce competition among parties to offer freebies and guarantees, a scramble for tribal, OBC, women votes and a touch of Hindutva all have combined to make the Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls a high-stakes battle with main rivals BJP and the Congress pulling out all the stops to gain power.

After a close contest in 2018, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Opposition Congress are marshalling all resources at their disposal to notch a clear majority in the 230-member House to avoid post-result complications.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is on a freebies announcing spree, mostly targeting women, and playing temples-centric Hindutva card, while state Congress president Kamal Nath is countering his rival’s doles with his own pre-poll guarantees and wooing OBC voters.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is trying to regain its lost voter base in the state, where it had committed Dalit electors and pockets of influence for decades.

At a time when four-term BJP chief minister Chouhan (64) and his astute rival Nath (76) are fighting the toughest electoral battle of their political careers, Delhi CM and AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal is going all out to see that his outfit puts up a convincing show and wins a good number of seats.

The BJP is pinning hopes on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s charisma to get voters on their side with “MP Ke Man Mein Modi” slogan and theme song of electioneering focused on him. Modi has addressed nine rallies in seven months.