Bhopal:It's a tale of two spouses, one royal and the other wife of one of the richest candidates, who have got into the heat and dust of electioneering in Madhya Pradesh in a bid to ensure their husbands, belonging to rival parties, win the Lok Sabha polls.
Priyadarshini Raje Scindia, wife of Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, who hails from a royal clan, and Priya Nath, wife of Congress leader Nakul Nath, who is one of the richest candidates, have been beating the extremely hot weather and reaching out to people to campaign for their spouses.
They have been seen meeting vendors, singing bhajans, engaging in activities appealing to the common people, with one of them also entering a farm to harvest crops, as their husbands look for a win in the electoral arena.
Chhindwara's sitting MP Nakul Nath declared Rs 697 crore assets in the poll affidavit this time, and had topped the list of 475 Lok Sabha crorepati members in 2019.
His wife was recently seen cutting crops at an agricultural field in Chourai under her husband's parliamentary seat.
During campaigning, she reached Navegaon under Junnardeo assembly seat of Chhindwara parliamentary constituency and danced along with village women to the tune of devotional songs at a Bhagvat Katha Pandal.
Priyadarshini Raje Scindia, who hails from the Gaekwad royal family of Vadodara, has been hitting the streets of Guna constituency, from where her husband Jyotiraditya Scindia is contesting the Lok Sabha poll, meeting voters at market places and telling the people how much the Gwalior "Maharaj" (as the BJP leader is popularly called) cares for them.
Addressing a programme last week, Raje told a gathering that she has been watching Maharaj for the past 20 years and seen how much affection he has for the people of Guna-Shivpuri-Ashoknagar area (the three districts which are part of Guna parliamentary seat).
During the COVID-19 crisis, he was worried everyday that there should be no shortage of oxygen cylinders, tankers, medicines in hospitals as well as food, water and other essential requirements for the people of Guna Lok Sabha constituency, she said.
In Chhindwara, Priya Nath has been trying to keep up the morale of her husband's supporters and hitting out at her father-in-law Kamal Nath's close associates who joined the BJP recently.
"Never give up. Wherever I go, my sisters tell me that didi, never be nervous, we are with you. I ask, is there any nervousness visible on my face? I am not nervous but I definitely feel sad for papa Kamal Nath ji, whom they (turncoats) betrayed when the time came for his agnipareeksha," she told a gathering last week.