Election for the post of State Assembly Speaker is certain now, after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded its candidate, tribal face of the party Vijay Shah against Congress’ nominee NP Prajapati.
Going by the figures, it is almost certain that there is smooth sailing for the Congress nominee. However, sources claimed that there was a clear message from the high command to the State leadership of the BJP that BJP should field its candidate for the post.
The ruling party has accused the BJP of breaking the long tradition by not forging consensus on Speaker’s post and announced it would not offer deputy speaker’s post to the Opposition.
The Congress had announced the name of Gotegaon MLA and a Kamal Nath close aide –NP Prajapati for the post of Assembly speaker around a fortnight ago while Vijay Shah’s name was made public by the BJP on Monday.
Harsud MLA and former Shivraj Singh Chouhan minister Vijay Shah is a prominent tribal face of the BJP and party backing his name for the post of assembly speaker is seen as a ploy to woo tribal voters ahead of Assembly polls.
After OBCs which constitute almost 50% of the electorate in Madhya Pradesh, tribals are a dominant force with 21% share among voters.
As many as 47 seats are reserved for Scheduled Tribes in Madhya Pradesh whereas there are 40 other seats where the tribal voters are in excess of 40,000 or more.
The BJP was well aware of erosion in its tribal votebank and this was perhaps the reason Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah scheduled various public rallies in tribal dominated regions including –Mahakaushal and Malwa-Nimar.
Vijay Shah’s nomination is widely seen a preparatory measure for BJP ahead of Lok Sabha polls. Shah a six time MLA has remained active in Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad in students days.