Mandsaur constituency was the constituency that was constantly in news this year. The reason being that farmers of the region agitated against the state government and six farmers were killed in the police firing. The ongoing exit polls show that the Yashpal Singh Sisodiya who is contesting from the Bharatiya Janata party is ‘leading’ in Mandsaur. Considered to be the epicenter of the farmers’ agitation in the state the incoming mandate from the Mandsaur assembly constituency establishes the fact that the people of the area still have faith in Shivraj Singh Chouhan as Chief Minister of the state.
Narendra Nahata from the Indian National Congress and Ishwar Makwana from the Bahujan Samaj Party are trailing in the mandate. Talking about the 2013 Assembly Elections Yashpal Singh Sisodiya (BJP) won comfortably with 49.14% of vote share and Mahendra Singh Gurjar from the Indian National Congress secured the second spot with just 35.09% of vote share. There was a margin of 24,295 votes between Sisodiya and Gurjar.
Prior to Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Mandsaur, there were voices of discord that came from the party. Rahul Gandhi was supposed to address a public rally on the first death anniversary of the six farmers who were killed in police firing in Mandsaur district of Madhya Pradesh on 6th June. A couple of weeks prior to Rahul Gandhi’s visit cracks have begun showing in the ranks of MP Congress with top leaders from Western MP tendering their resignation.
Mandsaur district party Vice-President Mahendra Singh Gurjar, district women Congress head Babita Singh Tomar, the party legislator from Suvasara seat Hardeep Singh Dang are few prominent names who have submitted their resignation.
These leaders were demanding the inclusion of ex-Lok Sabha member Meenakshi Natarajan in the party’s decision making process. These leaders were annoyed with the Rahul Gandhi led central party leadership for nominating former rebel Rajendra Singh Gautam as a member of the Digvijaya Singh led MP State Congress Coordination Committee. Rajendra Singh Gautam was expelled from the party in 2009 for six years after being accused of indulging in anti-party activities. Rajendra Singh Gautam had also contested the 2009 elections against Congress candidate Meenakshi Natarajan as an independent candidate. So the idea of central leadership over the inclusion of Rajendra Singh Gautam might prove fatal for the Congress party in Mandsaur Assembly constituency.
