Homecoming for Madhavrao
From Girja Shankar Kaura
Tribune News Service

GUNA (Madhya Pradesh), Sept 8 — It is a homecoming for Madhavrao Scindia, who had shifted his base from this constituency 15 years ago and has now returned to it, much to the happiness and satisfaction of the electorate.

Although campaigning has been on a low key here, but with the BJP, which has had a stranglehold over this region ever since Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia decided to stand again from Guna in 1989, putting up a fairly weak candidate against Mr Scindia, the verdict here is almost a foregone conclusion.

Not only is the electorate happy to see the return of Mr Scindia to his base, which he deserted for neighbouring Gwalior in the 1984 Lok Sabha elections, but with the Rajmata not keeping well, the people here are satisfied that the royal family of Madhya Pradesh has not lifted its hand from over their heads.

Ever since 1957, when the Rajmata stood for the Lok Sabha elections for the first time from this constituency, only on two occasions has the electorate of Guna not returned a member of the royal family to Parliament. While Mr Scindia won on three consecutive occasions from Guna from 1971 to 1980, the Rajmata has been elected since 1989.

In 1984, both the mother and the son had deserted the people of this constituency to fight from Bhind and Gwalior respectively. While Mr Scindia scraped through from Gwalior, Mrs Vijayaraje Scindia lost the election from Bhind. However he was back to Guna in the next round and has been returned to the Lok Sabha on every occasion without trouble ever since.

For the Scindias this constituency and some other neighbouring constituencies have been a happy hunting ground. The Scindias — mother, son and daughter — have never confronted one another. As if going by the family tradition, they have been contesting from Guna, Gwalior, Bhind and Jhalawar constituencies for several years now. The only time a Scindia lost was when the Rajmata could not come through from Bhind. Otherwise, they have had an enviable record. Mrs Vijayaraje Scindia has won seven times, Mr Madhavrao Scindia eight times and Ms Vasundhara Raje four times.

Going by the logic of not confronting each other, the second daughter, Ms Yashodhara Raje, who has been nursing this constituency ever since her mother has not been keeping well, decided to opt out of the race after her elder brother announced his decision to shift his base back to Guna from Gwalior. A BJP MLA in Madhya Pradesh, Ms Yashodhara Raje would have been an ideal heir in the BJP to contest from this seat after the Rajmata was declared out of the fray.

The Scindias have traditionally controlled at least four parliamentary constituencies in Madhya Pradesh — Gwalior, Guna, Bhind and Morena. But this time, it was not an easy for Mr Scindia to come away a winner from Gwalior and so he apparently decided to shift back to Guna. In the 1998 elections, he had a close fight in Gwalior against the BJP candidate and the former Bajrang Dal President, Jaybhan Singh Pavaiya, scraping through with just a 26,000 margin. This too when the local BJP unit was divided. But on this occasion, it would have been another story and his return to the Lok Sabha for the record ninth time could have been difficult.

But in Guna, the vote bank of the Rajmata would also be an advantage for Mr Scindia. The people owing allegiance to the Rajmata would under no circumstances go against her son.

Another factor that would go greatly in favour of Mr Scindia is that his younger sister, Ms Yashodhara Raje, is keeping herself totally away from electioneering.

As for the BJP, it has put up Mr Deshraj Singh Yadav, who does not have much standing in the region and there is no other worthwhile opposition to Mr Scindia. The other three candidates in the fray are all Independents. The Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party, who have been gaining ground, could not field their candidates. The nominations of the candidates from both parties were rejected on technical grounds, leaving the field open for Mr Scindia.

Mr Scindia has been camping in the constituency ever since filing his nomination. He along with family members — wife Madhaviraje and daughter Chitragandha — has been going around the villages under the constituency, meeting the electorate. They have been touring the region, taking advantage of the helicopter at their disposal.

The communitywise break-up in Guna is: Brahmins (four per cent), Scheduled Castes (20 per cent), Scheduled Tribes (11 per cent) and Rajputs, Ahirs and Lodha (around eight per cent each). Of the Scheduled Castes, Chamars/Jatavs are 14 per cent, which also gives the BSP a great role in the region. Among the STs Seharias with 11 per cent presence are the most prominent. However the communitywise break up does not matter much when it is a Scindia who is in the race.

It was in 1957 that Mrs Vijayaraje Scindia stood for the first time from the constituency on a Congress ticket and emerged an easy winner. She came back to the constituency in 1967 on the Swatantra Party ticket to emerge as a winner before leaving it for her son, Madhavrao, fighting on a Congress ticket in 1971. He represented the constituency till 1984, when it was Mahender Singh again of the Congress who was the winner in the absence of any of the Scindias. But from 1989, it was again the Rajmata who represented the interests of the people of this region in Parliament.