Bumpy Road Ahead For Shivraj Singh Chouhan!

He is still a popular choice for chief minister. But farmer unrest, widespread caste agitations, a resurgent Congress and localised anti-incumbency make Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s bid to return for a fourth term a wobbly prospect

- Rahul Noronha

A lounge adgacent to the state hangar at the Raja Bhoj airport in Bhopal and not the fifth floor of Vallabh Bhavan, the state Mantralaya, has been the venue for a number of crucial administrative decisions Shivraj Singh Chouhan has taken in the past three months. Reason? From mid-July onward, when his Jan Ashirwad Yatra mass-contact programme got under way in Ujjain, the Madhya Pradesh chief minister has been out on tour for at least six days a week, except for a two-week break when former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee passed away.

Often, he has returned at 3 am only to be back on the trail by 9 am. The 18-hourday grind is in response to the strong challenge the Congress has mounted—something Chouhan acknowledges did not exist in 2003, 2008 and 2013, when the BJP won the assembly elections. The 2018 state poll is critical for the effect it will almost certainly have on the 2019 Lok Sabha election. What can Chouhan do to buck the anti-incumbency, accumulated over the 15 years he has ruled the state, and deliver MP to the BJP once again?

MANAGE NOMINATIONS AND REBELLION

The BJP and its affiliates are working at three levels to get ticket distribution right. While Chouhan continues to collect invaluable feedback while on his yatra, the BJP organisation is conducting a raishumari or consultation exercise, as part of which BJP leaders travel to districts and deliberate with office-bearers on the best-suited candidates.

Alongside, the RSS and other Sangh affiliates are conducting their own assessments. On his last visit, BJP president Amit Shah spent considerable time at state RSS headquarters Samidha while MP general secretary (organisation) Suhas Bhagat was ensconced for a marathon meeting on October 16 at the same venue with kshetra pracharak Deepak Vispute to get the Sangh’s feedback on candidates.