NEW DELHI: People waving placards reading “MP Ke Mann Mein Modi‘ (Modi in hearts of MP) have been a common feature in BJP’s poll rallies in Madhya Pradesh for the past few days, in what the party circles consider it as visible attempt to cash in on Prime Minister’s personal popularity in the state which strongly stood by him in the last two Lok Sabha polls.
Sources that the new slogan and the play it has been getting could be part of the moves to inoculate the party from the incumbency disadvantage that it would have inevitably acquired by sheer virtue of being in the office for so many years.
Congress’s strategy for the state seems focused on what it considers to be the vulnerability of chief minister Shivraj Chauhan who has been with in office, barring a 15 month-interlude, since 2005.
Chauhan is credited even by the neutral observers with having turned around the state once notorious for its woeful infrastructure and abysmally low growth rate and for having pulled it out of the BIMARU bloc: a grouping of the sick states. He also retains considerable goodwill across the state; especially among women. But the party is also cognizant of the risk of the fatigue factor which in the age of exploding aspirations, inevitably sets in after prolonged spells at the state.
By thrusting the PM , who swept the state both in 2014 and 2019, BJP seems to be seeking to obviate the potential trouble.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the most popular leader of the country and he lives in the hearts of the people in Madhya Pradesh as well as other parts of the country. He has been the inspiration behind most of the development and welfare initiatives be it state or the centre. The slogan is a reflection of the popular mood,”said union environment minister Bhupendra Yadav, who is BJP’s poll convenor for the state and has been camping there for long.
A senior party leader said that since 2014, PM Modi has visited the state over 40 times for the launch of projects and other events. The count does not include visits related to electioneering .
Just before the poll dates were announced, the prime minister had launched the national sickle cell anaemia elimination mission from a remote village in tribal dominated Shehdol district, aiming to screen more than seven crore young tribals so that the debilitating disease can be detected early and managed with therapies.
Soon thereafter, he also visited the state for laying the foundation of a temple dedicated to Sant Ravidas, the bhakti sant who is revered by Dalits and others , and that of Bina refinery complex.
The Ken -Betwa river interlinking project is also seen as his initiative , while the Bundelkhand Defence Corridor Project which is expected to have spinoffs for a sizeable section in Madhya Pradesh
The growing use of “MP ke Mann Mein Modi” coincides with growing confidence in the BJP camp about its prospects.
Home Minister Amit Shah is already been having a busy schedule, holding sprees of strategy meetings, other than poll rallies and is also said to be instrumental in a large number of party rebels to withdraw.
In a recent rally, Modi acknowledged approval of the slogan saying that people here are clearly saying that “Modi is in the MP’s mind and MP is in Modi’s mind”, that is, you, being like God to me, are always in Modi’s mind.
Sources that the new slogan and the play it has been getting could be part of the moves to inoculate the party from the incumbency disadvantage that it would have inevitably acquired by sheer virtue of being in the office for so many years.
Congress’s strategy for the state seems focused on what it considers to be the vulnerability of chief minister Shivraj Chauhan who has been with in office, barring a 15 month-interlude, since 2005.
Chauhan is credited even by the neutral observers with having turned around the state once notorious for its woeful infrastructure and abysmally low growth rate and for having pulled it out of the BIMARU bloc: a grouping of the sick states. He also retains considerable goodwill across the state; especially among women. But the party is also cognizant of the risk of the fatigue factor which in the age of exploding aspirations, inevitably sets in after prolonged spells at the state.
By thrusting the PM , who swept the state both in 2014 and 2019, BJP seems to be seeking to obviate the potential trouble.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the most popular leader of the country and he lives in the hearts of the people in Madhya Pradesh as well as other parts of the country. He has been the inspiration behind most of the development and welfare initiatives be it state or the centre. The slogan is a reflection of the popular mood,”said union environment minister Bhupendra Yadav, who is BJP’s poll convenor for the state and has been camping there for long.
A senior party leader said that since 2014, PM Modi has visited the state over 40 times for the launch of projects and other events. The count does not include visits related to electioneering .
Just before the poll dates were announced, the prime minister had launched the national sickle cell anaemia elimination mission from a remote village in tribal dominated Shehdol district, aiming to screen more than seven crore young tribals so that the debilitating disease can be detected early and managed with therapies.
Soon thereafter, he also visited the state for laying the foundation of a temple dedicated to Sant Ravidas, the bhakti sant who is revered by Dalits and others , and that of Bina refinery complex.
The Ken -Betwa river interlinking project is also seen as his initiative , while the Bundelkhand Defence Corridor Project which is expected to have spinoffs for a sizeable section in Madhya Pradesh
The growing use of “MP ke Mann Mein Modi” coincides with growing confidence in the BJP camp about its prospects.
Home Minister Amit Shah is already been having a busy schedule, holding sprees of strategy meetings, other than poll rallies and is also said to be instrumental in a large number of party rebels to withdraw.
In a recent rally, Modi acknowledged approval of the slogan saying that people here are clearly saying that “Modi is in the MP’s mind and MP is in Modi’s mind”, that is, you, being like God to me, are always in Modi’s mind.