A two time MLA from Shivpuri and one time MP (she won Gwalior in a by-election in 2007), Yashodhara Raje may not be in the news like her older sister and nephew Jyotiraditya, the Union minister of state for telecom.
She may be far off from the staggering record of electoral successes seen by her mother and brother -- seven and nine time MPs respectively.
She is even junior to nephew Dushyant Singh (Vasundhara Raje's son) in Parliament -- but the fledgling MP wants to make her place through vikas (development) -- not meant in the very hollow promise kind of way that politicians usually use it for, she clarifies.
"I take my work and the work within my constituency very seriously -- to the extent of letting my politics go down the tube. My mother was like that, she never played politics within politics," she says.
Rajmata Scindia stood like a colossus for nearly 40 years in Madhya Pradesh politics. She initiated her youngest daughter into politics as her own end drew nigh and Yashodhara Raje clearly wants to shape her definition of politics on the example set by her mother.
"Let me tell you, it's a burden -- people's expectations of you. They know you're not corrupt, so they are expecting you to do much more than any other politician. It's a huge burden carrying this legacy forward," she says, breaking off to listen to a man who gives her a letter seeking admission to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.
"I have been sitting here for 40 minutes, why didn't you come to me earlier?" she asks the man, directing one of her assistants to look into the matter, and rushes to the helipad to receive the chief minister, who has arrived.
She has three public meetings with Shivraj Chauhan in her constituency this day -- the chief minister won a second term last November and has emerged as a popular campaigner in the state.
Chauhan's presence at the fag end of her campaign will be crucial -- one that could help improve her 35,000 vote victory margin in her first parliamentary election. For a Scindia, a family which has dominated public life in Gwalior since the late 18th century, that kind of victory is paltry, it is chilling.
Image: Crowds gather to welcome the chief minister and the candidate.
Also see: In Guna the legacy continues | India Votes 2009
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