Gayatri Mishra, the wife of the BJP nominee from Guna,
Narottam Mishra, is putting up a brave front. She declares her husband
will win by over 100,000 votes in his maiden Lok Sabha contest, pitted
against a candidate who won his first election by over 450,000 votes.
Electoral victory has hardly been an issue with the Scindias. Rajmata
Vijayaraje Scindia won seven parliamentary elections and lost only one --
to Indira Gandhi in Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh, in 1980. Madhavrao never
lost an election; he won from Guna and Gwalior no less than nine times and
in 1984, vanquished the mighty Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Together, six members
of the family have represented Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan in the Indian
Parliament since Independence.
But things are not what they were before. The Scindia name is not as
strong in the electorate's minds as it was before. Moreover, this is also
the first time that the BJP has pitted a strong candidate, adds Gayatri
Mishra, whose husband who is also an MLA from Dabra. She is a little
perplexed though that Yashodhra Raje, Jyotiraditya's aunt and BJP MP from
Gwalior, does not campaign for the party's candidate in neighbouring Guna.
This is the understanding of the mahal (palace), between aunt and
nephew and aunt, she insinuates. A thin line has prevented the Scindias
from campaigning against each other in past elections.
We asked Jyotiraditya: The Congress has ceded ground to the BJP in
Madhya Pradesh. While Rahul Gandhi is leading the charge in UP, MP has not
seen a revival of that sort.
MP has always been a Congress majority state. For almost 50 years it has
been a Congress-ruled state. Every party has its crests and troughs, maybe
we are going through one but we have firmly resolved to regaining that
lost glory. You will see the first step towards building that in this
election.
We will do much better in this election than what we have done in the
assembly election.
We did not see many young MPs in Dr Manmohan Singh's government; even
you were inducted towards the end of the UPA's tenure. What role do you
see for young MPs like you if the UPA wins the election?
I don't think that is necessarily true. A lot of youngsters got an
opportunity the last time. A lot have been represented in government - D
Purandeshwari, Pallam Raju, Ajay Makken, Jiten Prasada and myself. I have
named you five. I think that trend will continue.
What fresh changes do you think we need in Indian politics?
The language of politics has to change, it has to change from caste and
creed to development and progress. I think the younger group of MPs have
firmly put their resolve to that.
Image: The Scindia legacy still lives on among many of the voters.
Also read: Cong's self goal in Arjun's stronghold | India Votes
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