230 BJP MLAs begin constituency visits to boost party prospects in MP polls

Two hundred and thirty Bharatiya Janata Party legislators from Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra who arrived in Madhya Pradesh two days ago have fanned out in as many Assembly constituencies in the state to firm up the party's prospects for the year-end polls.

They were given training on Saturday on what they have to do in the state during their week-long stay and have now begun sending their field reports to the party's central leadership in Delhi on a daily basis, a top BJP leader told PTI on Monday.

Their job is to mingle with party workers and the public to understand the demands of the constituency and take stock of the ground situation, BJP insiders said.

The BJP has made Union Ministers Bhupender Yadav and Ashwini Vaishnaw as the party's MP election incharge and co-incharge, while their cabinet colleague Narendra Singh Tomar, who is Lok Sabha MP from Morena in the state, is convenor of the election management committee.

The BJP last week released its first list of candidates from 39 seats it lost in the 2018 Assembly polls.

In the 2018 polls, the Congress won 114 seats and formed a coalition government under Kamal Nath. The BJP could secure victory on just 109 seats, though it had a slightly higher vote share than the Congress.

However, the Nath government fell in March 2020 after MLAs loyal to Jyotiraditya Scindia quit the Congress in March 2020, resulting in the BJP returning to power under Shivraj Singh Chouhan.