Tomorrow i. e on November 17, voters for 230 assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh and 70 assembly seats in Chhattisgarh to cast their decision in electronic voting machines i.e. EVMs.
In both the states, BJP leaders like Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan as well as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, National President JP Nadda, Rajnath Singh were seen in the front row on the campaign front.
At the same time, if Priyanka Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge were removed, Congress’s emphasis remained on local leadership.
While Kamal Nath held massive rallies in Madhya Pradesh, CM Bhupesh Baghel was seen taking charge of the campaign in Chhattisgarh.
In Madhya Pradesh elections, while BJP’s emphasis was repeatedly on the 10-year government of Digvijay Singh, the party also presented the Ladli Brahmin Yojana as a big achievement.
From PM Modi to Home Minister Amit Shah and almost every big leader of BJP targeted Congress on issues ranging from Sanatan and Ram Mandir to corruption. BJP not only counted the achievements of its 18-year-old government, but also accused the 15-month-old Kamal Nath government of turning Madhya Pradesh into an ATM for the Gandhi family.
At the same time, Congress’s focus was seen on caste census as well as on issues like inflation and unemployment.
In the initial phase of the campaign, senior leaders of the party raised the issue of caste census loudly.
However, as the campaign progressed, the focus of Congress started shifting towards local problems, failures of Shivraj government, paper leak, alleged scam in Patwari recruitment and the fall of the 15-month-old government.
Talking about Chhattisgarh, opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) made corruption and Mahadev app betting case an issue.
From Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Home Minister Amit Shah and State President Arun Sao, they were attacking the Baghel government on these issues including Mahadev App and the issue of corruption.
On the other hand, Congress went among the public regarding its achievements. Congress gave the slogan of government of trust and also focused its campaign on this theme.
If we look at the campaign strategy of both BJP and Congress, there seems to be more focus on voter classes. Leaving aside corruption, BJP’s emphasis was on women, farmers and Hindutva.
At the same time, Congress’s focus also remained on Chhattisgarhism to cut BJP’s Hindu card along with soft Hindutva.
While Congress played the caste census card to mobilize the OBCs who have the highest participation in the state’s population as per the estimates, it also counted the efforts made to emotionally connect the tribals for their upliftment and promote their culture.
BJP raised the issue of corruption and misgovernance in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, but there was something common in the campaign strategy of both the states.
What is common is that the initial phase of the party’s campaign seemed focused on the issue of Sanatan, while in the last phase the issue of Ram Temple also came up a lot.
The people of both the states will vote on Friday to elect their representative in the Legislative Assembly and their government for the next five years. In such a situation, it has to be seen whose campaign the public trusts.
