Congress banks on cadres' strength to turn tide in favour of party in Madhya Pradesh

Polling for the 230-member Madhya Pradesh Assembly will be held on Friday. Results will be out on December 3. “We are satisfied with our hard work during the campaign. Now it is up to the voters who are supreme in democracy. We have asked the booth teams to take the good campaign to its conclusion by ensuring a high voter turnout. The party war room will monitor the polling,” AICC secretary in-charge of Madhya Pradesh Sanjay Kapoor said.

A poll review was conducted by the party on Thursday a day after the campaign ended on Wednesday. The Congress leaders said they were confident of defeating the ruling BJP and claimed that the grand old party’s campaign has attracted the voters.

“The most important thing in this election is that the voters were supporting us. One, because they were fed up with the BJP and two, they liked our poll promises. In fact, it was like a public vs the BJP poll. In various rallies of Priyanka Gandhi, people came on their own in large numbers. Further, the state unit was united and Kamal Nath’s projection as the CM face helped the Congress. Against this, the BJP is a divided house,” said Kapoor.

The AICC functionary said the Congress conducted its campaign with limited resources against the resource-rich BJP. “The BJP invested huge resources in the campaign while PM Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and UP CM Yogi Adityanath came to woo voters. In our case, we had limited resources but managed to mobilize the workers with the seven Jan Aakrosh Yatras which highlighted the BJP misrule,” said Kapoor.

“We were also able to convince the rebels to a large extent while infighting in the BJP showed in public,” he said. According to the AICC functionary, the party’s focus on corruption in the state government and promises for youth, women and farmers were liked by the voters who could see that similar promises had been implemented in other party-ruled states like Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

“Adivasis were another major focus area of the Congress. The tribals influenced around 100 seats and had suffered during the BJP rule. They will make a difference in this poll,” said Kapoor. The Congress leader further said that the grand old party constantly reminded the voters how its government was toppled through corruption in 2020 by the BJP which did nothing since then.

“This charge clicked with the voters who were able to see our point. The campaign led by our party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi besides state unit chief Kamal Nath, veteran Digvijay Singh and other senior leaders also made a difference. Our high command kept pointing at our record of delivering on our promises as compared to the hollow claims of the BJP,” said Kapoor.