It was an eventful year in the political landscape of Madhya Pradesh, which saw the return of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to power even as the main Opposition Congress struggled hard to come out stronger but failed.
The massive democratic exercise created a record by sending the same party to power in the State for the third successive term after 1977. After Sheila Dikshit, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was the next Chief Minister to form Government thrice in a row. The saffron party’s resounding victory has not settled the political dust with general elections scheduled next year. Despite the favourable poll verdict beyond its own expectations, the BJP is in no mood to take chances.
Soon after taking oath, Chouhan made a slew of announcements directed at the welfare of various sections. In his interaction with party legislators and the Council of Ministers, his message was loud and clear - ‘maintain clean image’ and ‘serve the people’. On the other hand, the Congress appears to have not learnt from the rout. The show of unity it had put up before the Assembly polls came down like a pack of cards.
Congress leaders openly targeted each other for the embarrassing defeat. It is endeavouring to make large-scale irregularities in examinations conducted through the Professional Examination Board an election issue but appears to have run out of steam. Although the names of former Minister laxmikant Sharma and businessman Sudhir Sharma cropped up in the scam, the Congress failed to capitalise on the issue for connecting with the public.
As the year draws to a close, the announcement by the Aam Admi Party (AAP) after its dream debut in New Delhi that it is likely to foray into the State’s political arena in the next general elections has set the stage for an interesting political contest. With the demise of Speaker Ishwardas Rohani this year, Madhya Pradesh lost an authority on Parliamentary procedures. A few months earlier, Vidhan Sabha Deputy Speaker Harvansh Singh had also passed away.