New Delhi: The Congress on Monday said that the Chambal-Gwalior region of Madhya Pradesh should not be considered a stronghold of the erstwhile Scindia royal family but as another part of the poll-bound state.
“Why should we consider Chambal-Gwalior as the stronghold of the Scindia family? For us, it is another part of the state and our leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is going to campaign there on July 21. There is a strong demand from our workers that she should campaign across the state,” AICC in-charge Madhya Pradesh JP Agarwal told ETV Bharat.
According to Agarwal, the date for Priyanka’s rally was confirmed on Monday though the visit had been talked about over the past few days. The Gwalior rally would be Priyanka’s second in the state after she launched the party’s campaign from Jabalpur on June 12. Though Agarwal played down the Scindia factor, Priyanka’s visit to Gwalior has generated a lot of interest in the state and has excited both the leaders and the workers, who have started preparing for the big day.
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Last week, AICC in charge of organization KC Venugopal reviewed the preparations for Priyanka’s rally as well as the coming polls along with senior leaders including state unit chief Kamal Nath and former chief minister Digvijay Singh on July 3. Agarwal also attended the meeting. Further, both Kamal Nath and Digvijay Singh have toured the Gwalior area recently while various senior leaders including AICC secretary in charge Shiv Bhatia and former state unit chief Arun Yadav have been camping there.
According to party insiders, the Gwalior rally assumes significance as it is being seen as Priyanka’s retort to former party leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, now a union minister. Scindia was considered close to both former party chief Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka but joined the BJP in 2020. His migration soon led to the fall of the Kamal Nath government in the state as over 20 Congress MLAs loyal to Scindia voted against the party whip.
“What Priyanka Ji will say in the rally I can’t guess but there is no doubt that she is a strong leader and speaks from the heart. This one is going to be a massive rally,” said Agarwal. He alleged that the BJP formed the state government in 2020 through corrupt means and since then indulged in more corruption.
“There has been no development but corruption is rampant. The people are angry with the BJP government and will vote it out this time. The BJP tried to intimidate our leaders through false cases but they did not leave,” said Agarwal. Old timers in the party recalled how ahead of the 2019 national elections, Rahul Gandhi, who was then party chief, had made both Scindia and Priyanka in charge for crucial Uttar Pradesh to take on the BJP.
Priyanka was made in charge of Lok Sabha seats in Eastern UP while Scindia was to supervise the parliamentary seats in western parts. The AICC in-charge further said that the Congress had made foolproof plans for the Chambal-Gwalior region which has 34 assembly seats and would do very well there.
“Many leaders who went with Scindia have come back to the Congress. There are many in the pipeline but we are being very selective in taking BJP dissidents. The ground situation has changed in the Gwalior region and also across the state in favour of the Congress. In fact, those who had left in 2020 had actually won the previous polls on a Congress ticket,” said Agarwal.
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