Uma Bharti who had led the BJP to victory in the last election had to resign due to a court case. Her rivalry with Pramod Mahajan, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitly and her own mercurial temperament eventually led her ouster from the party. She has formed her own party now and hopes to emerge victorious in this election also. But that seems a tall order considering the changed circumstances and her party’s inherent strength.

Buoyed by her grand victory Bharti made biggest mistake of her life when she dared to confront Atal Bihari Vajpeyee and LK Advani because she was not being reinstated as the chief minister again. She was expelled from the party and her intemperate move made it impossible for her to return to party fold again and she gradually went into political oblivion.

This election was a golden chance for her to redeem herself but she has again fallen prey to her mood swings. In a fit of rage she slapped her own office bearer, Anil Rai, in front of media and this impulsive behaviour did not go well with her party workers and hundreds of them have already resigned by now.

The infighting and lack of cohesiveness is evident and it seems Bharti will yet again loose from the position of strength.

Congress led by Digvijaya Singh had ruled the state for a decade sans any visible development. Singh was perhaps competing with Lalu Prasad Yadav-Rabri Devi for sheer inefficiency. Consequently, the road infrastructure of entire Madhya Pradesh vanished and people had to face immense hardship. Electricity was another major problem. The pathetic governance had immensely angered the people and Bharti exploited that to her advantage.

During the last regime, Shivraj Singh Chauhan got the chief minister’s post out of the blue. He himself would not have thought of occupying the post so soon. But being a sangh parivar activist worked in his favour and he has consolidated his position considerably. Chauhan has been able to keep party workers active and there is every chance that he would fare much better than earlier expected.

To conclude we can say that in spite of several hurdles BJP has maintained its strong hold in the state and is in an advantageous position for the upcoming elections.