The Rajgarh constituency in Madhya Pradesh, which is being touted as a sizzling seat this Lok Sabha elections with Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh contesting in opposition to two-time BJP MP Rodmal Nagar, is all set to vote on Might 7, within the third part of the following common polls.
To this point within the common elections, Congress received 9 elections from this seat, the Jansangh-BJP 6 instances, the Janta Occasion twice and an impartial candidate additionally received the seat solely as soon as. This time, Congress has pitted Digvijaya Singh in opposition to two-time BJP’s Rodmal Nagar, who has been successful the elections since 2014.
Even earlier than the discharge of Congress’ official, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh had introduced that he can be the celebration’s Lok Sabha candidate from Rajgarh, marking his return to the seat after greater than three a long time. Singh is contesting the constituency, thought of his pocket borough, after a spot of 33 years.
The veteran Congress chief, who represented Rajgarh in Parliament again within the 1980s and early 90s, is returning to his house turf after three a long time. This election is necessary not just for Singh’s popularity but in addition for the way forward for Congress in Madhya Pradesh, which closely depends on him.
Digvijaya Singh, the son of Balbhadra Singh, the Raja of Raghogarh (below the Gwalior State), started his political profession in 1969 when he was elected as president of the Raghogarh municipality. In 1977, the post-Emergency election when the Congress was worn out throughout the nation, Digvijaya received from the Raghogarh Meeting constituency and received Ragogarh twice extra – in 1998 and 2003.
In 1984, Digvijaya entered the Lok Sabha as an MP from Rajgarh. Nevertheless, in 1989, Digvijaya misplaced from Rajgarh to the BJP’s Pyarelal Khandelwal. In 1989, the BJP was a part of the Janata Dal coalition led by VP Singh that defeated the Congress on the Centre. With the Janata Dal coalition authorities quickly collapsing, Digvijaya received the seat again within the 1991 Lok Sabha elections. When he returned again to state politics for a 10-year stint as CM, his brother Laxman Singh received the seat the following 5 instances for the Congress.
Digvijaya Singh presently serves as a Member of Parliament within the Rajya Sabha and is a everlasting invitee to the Congress Working Committee, the celebration’s highest decision-making physique. Within the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, he contested from Bhopal however misplaced to BJP candidate Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur by over 3.6 lakh votes.
Whereas Digvijaya has himself been out of electoral politics within the state since his CM spell from 1993 to 2003, he has at all times been a major goal for the BJP. Union Minister Amit Shah who held a public rally in Rajgarh final month to drum up the assist for the BJP’s candidate took a dig at Singh and requested the gathering to present the latter’s political profession a “grand farewell”.
Shah recited the Urdu couplet “aashiq ka janaaza hai, zara dhoom se nikle” (it’s a lover’s funeral procession, let it transfer forward grandly) to take a swipe at Singh. He additionally slammed Rahul Gandhi and Digvijaya Singh for declining the invitation to attend the consecration of Ram Lalla’s idol in Ayodhya, saying their transfer was guided purely by vote-bank politics.
“Have you learnt why shehzada Rahul Gandhi and Diggi Raja (Digvijaya Singh) didn’t attend the consecration of Ram Lalla’s idol at Ayodhya? As a result of they’re afraid of their vote-bank and due to this fact, they need to by no means be pardoned,” he famous. In the meantime, Rajgarh has been slipping away from the Congress, whilst Laxman Singh’s personal loyalties have swung between the celebration and BJP.
The 2023 Meeting elections too didn’t go the Congress’s method in Rajgarh. Of the eight Meeting segments falling below the Rajgarh Lok Sabha constituency – Chachoura, Raghogarh, Narsinghgarh, Biaora, Rajgarh, Khilchipur, Sarangpur (SC) and Susner – the Congress solely received Raghogarh, the place Digvijaya’s son and inheritor Jaivardhan was the candidate. Within the final two common elections, 2014 and 2019, the constituency was received by the BJP’s MP Rodmal Nagar.
Nagar first bought the ticket in 2014 after which retained it in 2019 regardless of native BJP opposition. In 2019, Nagar received in opposition to Congress candidate Mona Sustani by 4.31 lakh votes (a vote share of 65.37 per cent). Rajgarh will go to polls on Might 7 in part three of the seven-phased ensuing common elections.
