Makeover games

The BJP is banking on Modi and welfare schemes to overcome Chouhan fatigue’ in Madhya Pradesh

- PRATUL SHARMA

IF ELECTION management had a template, the BJP has used it all in Madhya Pradesh-from making Prime Minister Narendra Modi the face of the campaign to bringing back old war horses into the battle. It is an all-hands-on-the-deck effort.

With less than a month to go to the polls, the state is expected to set the tone for the Lok Sabha elections next year. But before that, the results will determine the future of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

The longest serving BJP chief minister, Chouhan mixed welfarism and hindutva in equal measures to strengthen the party in the state. But now even his own partymen say there is a fatigue. He underwent an image makeover to overcome this, donning an aggressive avatar, bringing vigour in his body language and dialling up his connection with the voters. It remains to be seen if it is good enough to take on the Congress, and his competitors within the party.

Chouhan has been assiduously wooing women voters, with grand schemes for them. "You will miss me if I'm gone," he told them in a rally in his constituency, Budhni.

While there is no doubt that Chouhan is the BJP's best-known face in the state, the party has decided to follow the collective leadership formula for the election. This is best captured in the election publicity material in which Modi is the focus, and Chouhan is only one among the 10 state leaders.