Betul by-election is litmus test

Bhopal, Apr 03: This Betul election is the last by-election, but a litmus test for all major political parties in Madhya Pradesh. The ruling BJP wants to win Betul because it wants to sign off on a winning note before going for another term of office. For the Congress, a victory would herald a sign of change.

And for the Samajwadi Party, Betul victory would mean that a ‘third force’ has finally arrived in the state which has adhered to ‘two-party’ polity so far. After its recent victory in Rajya Sabha elections, the BJP is charged and willing to bag the seat, while Congress is making efforts to take revenge of Rajya Sabha defeat. Since, it is the last show of strength; its result would haunt the party in the assembly elections scheduled in November this year. At this moment, by-election is entirely different for Congress as most of the senior leaders are united in the leadership of State Congress president Suresh Pachauri.

However, party sources claimed that dissidents in the state Congress have decided to wait for the results of Betul election to raise voice against the leadership. Since, former State president Subhash Yadav has not been rehabilitated or accommodated in AICC, his supporters are eagerly waiting for the Betul results to raise voice. Meanwhile, despite having paraded national leaders and former cine stars Jaya Bachchan and Jaya Prada, the fate of Samajwadi Party (SP) is also under clouds. Political observers believe that the decision of fielding MLA Sunilam was a wrong decision by the party and Sunilam himself in view of safeguarding his vote bank in Multai assembly constituency, which is a part of Betul Lok Sabha.

Instead of contesting himself, Sunilam should have fielded another tribal candidate to build his image in the region. A senior Congress leader said, “If Sunilam loses his own constituency, it would be difficult for him to bag Multai constituency in next round of assembly elections.” Sources said that Bijli-Sadak-Pani (BSP) is the main issue in the campaigning, besides direct fight between BJP candidate Hemant Khandelwal, son of former MP Vijay Khandelwal and Sukhdev Pande, son of a farmer. As the local issues are also related to condition of roads, non-availability of electricity and drinking water, all the parties are raising these issues.