Our election preparation started from the day the seats became vacant: Party V-P Vinay Sahasrabuddhe on the upcoming by-polls in the State

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) vice president and Madhya Pradesh prabhari for the party, Vinay Sahasrabuddhe spoke to Nistula Hebbar on the party’s prospects in the Madhya Pradesh by-polls, crucial for the survival of the Chouhan government.

The Election Commission (EC) has said that it would be conducting by-polls to 65 Assembly and one Lok Sabha seat alongside the Bihar Assembly polls. What is the BJP’s state of preparation for the 27 Assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh?

Well, our election preparation started from the day these seats became vacant. Madhya Pradesh is known for a very strong organisational base of the BJP for the last many decades and that continues. Now that our government is well-settled
in the saddle and days of crass injustice under previous rule are over, party organisation is further galvanised and are enthusiastic.

The party is facing an incongruent situation where workers will have to campaign for candidates who they campaigned against in 2018, as rebel Congressmen had shifted to the BJP in February. How is the party going to handle that?

Our party workers know that it was due to the new entrants that BJP rule was restored. On the other hand these new entrants — mostly the likely candidates — are well aware that their victory depends upon the proactive
grassroots level work of basically the traditional BJP workers and supporters. This mutuality is now realised by one and all. We are working to bridge the gaps, and cementing the ties. After all, when we meet Jyotiraditya-ji (former
Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia), we recall Rajmata-ji (late Vijayaraje Scindia).

What will be the high points of the campaign considering the prevalence of the COVID19 pandemic across the country?

Three things: We have to convince people that we cannot sacrifice our democratic duties even when we face a dreaded disease. In a ‘pandemic versus people’ fight, people will have to win and hence, while observing personal
distance, we have to vote to ensure that people win. Secondly, people have realised the difference that six months rule of BJP has made. Kamal Nath was ‘coterie Nath’, Shivraj Singh Chouhan is people’s Chief
Minister. Thirdly, after having taken the State out of the ‘bimaru’ (an acronym for the economically poor Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh) sphere, we have a duty to work to be a developed
State and for that, our plans are already being worked on. New agriculture policy and new employment initiatives are a testimony to these.

Do you think that after Jyotiraditya Scindia’s move to BJP from the Congress, the ‘palace versus the rest’ politics of the Gwalior-Chambal belt is over?

Firstly, what you are describing was a point in a perception war. It is now a thing of the past. We always draw inspiration from Rajmata-ji, a founding member of the BJP, and currently we are working with Jyotiraditya-ji,
and I am sure the future of this entire Gwalior-Chambal region is bright.