BHOPAL: With just little over one-and-half-year time left for the Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, both the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress have taken a plunge into election mode and are gearing up with their respective strategies to woo the voters.
Putting an end to speculations, both the parties have dismissed any possible change in leaderships before the Assembly elections.
While the state unit of the Congress, in a recent meeting, has unanimously decided that the party will contest the Assembly polls under Kamal Nath's leadership, the BJP unit has always maintained that Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will remain the party's face for the next elections.
"Party has decided with consensus that 2023 Assembly elections will be fought under leadership of Kamal Nath, " Congress leader Jitu Patwari has said after a meeting at Kamal Nath's residence on April 4, adding that the party will start a big movement from streets to the Assembly to raise people's issues.
Similarly, the BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, during his recent visit to Bhopal, has hinted that Chief Minister Chouhan will lead the state in the Assembly elections.
Vijayvargiya's statement came on the very same day when Chouhan had taken his cabinet to Pachmarhi for a marathon meeting called - 'Chintan Shivir'.
"Though the party is yet make an official announcement, but Chouhan is doing a good job and therefore he should be the face of the party for the Assembly polls in the state, " Vijayvargiya has said while responding to a query.
The Congress, which has been witnessing "intense" infighting within the party, with the presence of all senior leaders including dissidents, during a meeting at Kamal Nath's residence, tried to put an end to speculations regarding differences among the party leaders in the state.
Subsequently, senior Congress leaders, who have been maintaining distance from the party office, have now started visiting and participating in meetings.
On the other hand, knowing that the Opposition will target the ruling BJP on key issues such as - unemployment, corruption, mafiyaraj, governance, reservation for OBC etc, Shivraj Singh Chouhan has already switched to action mode over such issues.
In the past one month, Chouhan has addressed 15 public rallies and chaired 17 meetings with officials to improve implementation of government schemes. T he Chief Minister has warned officials of action if they fail to ensure proper delivery of the government schemes.
Further, to counter the Opposition's allegation of corruption and 'mafiyaraj' in the state, Chouhan is trying to change his earlier image of a 'soft persona' to that of 'bulldozer mama' who is benevolent towards the poor and willing to take errant officials to task.
Also, he is trying to maintain his earlier image of 'mama' by reintroducing his old schemes for women, including the Mukhya Mantri Kanya Vivah/Nikah Yojana and Ladli LaxmiYojna among others.