RECLAIMING THE CITADEL

After a defeat in the previous election, Jyotiraditya Scindia is determined to win back Guna, once his family pocket borough

- Rahul Noronha

Jyotiraditya Scindia's convoy arrives at Kadwaya village in Ashoknagar district just as the summer sun begins to set over the harvested wheat fields, and comes to a halt at the chaupal. This is the last meeting of the day for the BJP candidate from Guna Lok Sabha constituency, having started his campaign that morning from Chanderi, the town renowned for its fabric. A group of trumpeters and drummers herald Scindia's arrival as he ascends a small dais. Addressing the gathered crowd moments later, he invokes his royal family's longstanding ties with the region where his grandmother Vijaya Raje and father Madhavrao served as MPs. There's no mistaking the emotional appeal evident even in wife Priyadarshini and son Mahanaaryaman's campaigning in the constituency.

As a Congress candidate in 2019, the four-time Lok Sabha MP had lost-the first time for his family in Guna-to the BJP's K.P. Singh Yadav. The next year, a few days before India went into a Covid lockdown, Scindia switched to the saffron side and later brought down the 15-month-old Congress government headed by Kamal Nath. That year, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha before being appointed a Union minister. A victory here will erase the humiliation of the past, though he denies it ever made a difference.