'Cong should hire a poll strategist for MP assembly polls'

Congress MLA Jaivardhan Singh has urged the party leadership to hand over the task of preparing a strategy for Madhya Pradesh assembly elections due in 2018, to a professional like Prashant Kishore, who has been hired to revive the party's fortunes in Uttar Pradesh.
"Such trend is quite common in foreign countries. Like Uttar Pradesh, where (Prashant) Kishore has been entrusted with the job of making a strategy to revive the party in the poll-bound state, a professional should be deployed to frame strategy for Madhya Pradesh as well, where assembly elections are due in 2018," Jaivardhan, son of Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh, told PTI here last night.

The MLA from Raghogarh seat in the state, who arrived in the town to attend a marriage function, said that he has requested Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi to allot party tickets to candidates at least six months prior to the polls so that they get ample time to prepare for the elections.
Talking about the possible emergence of third force in Madhya Pradesh, especially that of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Jaivardhan said, "They don't have any significant presence in the state and the party is confined to Delhi and nearby areas only."
He, however, said that if the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) wins in Uttar Pradesh, then it will certainly have some impact in Madhya Pradesh, especially areas along the border.

Asked if top Congress leaders from the state should go up to ground level, Jaivardhan said that when Digvijay Singh was the State Congress chief of undivided Madhya Pradesh, he had toured the area right up to block level and was in direct touch with at least 50 persons.
On the education sector in Madhya Pradesh, Jaivardhan said the standard of education in the state has declined drastically as "private colleges are merely turning into shops selling degrees".
"Due to the Vyapam scam, youth got disappointed. But it appears that it has not paid much dividend in the electoral politics. There is a need for a major reform in the education sector in the state," he said.