Congress fails to repeat Ratlam win in Shahdol

BHOPAL: BJP was nervous when Congress floated Himadri Singh's name as candidate for Shahdol Lok Sabha constituency. It was widely known and accepted later by Himadri that BJP had contacted her to be the ruling party's candidate. PCC chief Arun Yadav during a conversation with reporters had alleged, "This is fast becoming BJP's habit to steal our good candidates. They have done it before and it won't be surprising if they do it again."
Himadri Singh, during an interview with TOI, had claimed that she refused BJP candidature because both her parents - former Union minister Dalbir Singh and former MP Rajesh Nandini Singh - worked for the Congress party."I have only seen the Congress from the day I opened my eyes. I could not have gone to the BJP when my parents belonged to Congress," she said.
This means that young and educated Himandri Singh with a political lineage was a good candidate who out of conviction stayed with the Congress. No matter how much the BJP rejoiced its victory on Tuesday, it is a fact that Himadri Singh has reduced the victory margin of the ruling party by more than 1.8 lakh votes since the last election in 2014.
A 28-year-old green-horn, she was contesting an election not just against senior minister Gyan Singh but the entire ruling BJP government. There were at least half-a-dozen ministers and entire BJP strength under organisational general secretary Suhas Bhagat on ground zero ensuring that the party retains this tribal reserved Lok Sabha seat. If a new face like Himadri could secure 405,255 votes against two times MP and seven times MLA Gyan Singh who received 465,338 votes, then there is no reason to believe that the Congress could not have won this election.
Even when the Congress stayed united in Shahdol, it refused to garner all its strength to support Himadri Singh. Former Union minister Kamal Nath spent a couple of days in the constituency, then rushed to Delhi and returned towards the end of the campaign. Jyotiraditya Scindia made 'rotis' on chulha in a tribal home and halted the night in the village.
Digvijaya Singh and Suresh Pachauri campaigned for a short period of two to three days. PCC chief Arun Yadav split his time between Shahdol and Nepanagar, the latter was more important for him since it falls in his area of influence. On November 14, Himadri was campaigning alone with a few local leaders, stopping at villages in Jaitpur and Sohagpur, asking voters for 'co-operation' with the Congress party.
In contrast, CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan made several trips to the constituency while leading road-shows, meetings and most importantly, would not permit his ministers to budge from the constituency. Ministers Bhupendra Singh, Rajendra Shukla, BJP organisational secretary Suhas Bhagat, MoS Lal Singh Arya, Sanjay Pathak and Vishwas Sarang spent a month preparing workers for the bypoll.