BJP lacks strong CM face in MP: Randeep Surjewala

As the single-phase Madhya Pradesh assembly polls are less than two weeks away, both the ruling alliance and the Opposition Congress are fine tuning their strategies to register victory in the 230-Member state legislative assembly. Congress leader Randeep Surjewala, in an exclusive interview with India News, spoke about party’s strategy for the soon-to-be held polls in the state.

Q: How do you see Congress’ prospects in the upcoming state polls?
A: The voters of the state are fed up with over 18 years of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) rule in the state and though the ruling dispensation talks a lot for making the state a developed one, no one is going to buy its allurement policy and this time, it is bound to bite the dust. The BJP is a party which stresses on false publicity of development but on the ground, the story is quite different. Finally, the BJP will have to answer voters’ questions in the upcoming polls. Thus, the saffron party must not live in fool’s paradise. Further, the party is suffering from political bankruptcy.

Q: Congress has projected Kamal Nath as the chief ministerial candidate while the BJP has not. What have you to say on this?
A: The fact is that BJP has no strong chief ministerial candidate in the state as the influence of Shivraj Singh Chouhan has dwindled with the passage of time. Keeping this in mind, Prime Modi is seeking votes in the state in his name but that is not going to have any major impact on the polls. Similar was the scenario in the Karnataka state polls when the BJP had not projected chief ministerial candidate and PM Modi had sought votes in his name. The Karnataka story is going to be repeated in Madhya Pradesh too and nobody should be surprised at it.

Q: BJP says that Congress is riddled with factionalism in the state. How can you address it?
A: It is everybody to see and watch. As there is no factionalism in the party, Kamal Nath has been projected as the chief ministerial candidate. The BJP tried to break Congress through Jyotiraditya Scindia but it did not succeed. Similarly, the rumour about Kamalnath-Digvijaya has also failed and so, there remains no question of factionalism in the state ahead of the polls.