- Situation in Vijayraghavgarh assembly seat of Katni
Avinash Dixit, Katni
The Vijayraghavgarh assembly seat of the district has become such a seat where political parties have become secondary and are seen standing behind only one candidate. Talking about the last 4 assembly elections, the strong leader Sanjay Pathak is continuously winning the elections from this seat. In the years 2008 and 2013, when he contested the elections from the Congress, the BJP had to face defeat in the political field, while in 2014 and 2018 he contested the elections from the BJP, the Congress candidate became a mere formality.
It should be noted that the Vijayraghavgarh seat was once considered a stronghold of the Congress, but now this seat has almost turned into an impregnable fort of the BJP. It is worth noting that in Vijayraghavgarh, drinking water, employment, sand mining crisis and other local issues remain in the center of discussions of the regional people, but they do not prove to be effective in the elections. Sanjay Pathak’s victory may have some other indirect reasons, but experts in regional politics believe that Sanjay Pathak’s character is influential as well as public welfare. Apart from this, he has been getting the benefit of maintaining constant live contact with the local residents.
BJP got a setback in the mayoral election
Even though Sanjay Pathak has remained invincible for the last 4 elections, but the way the voices of rebellion in the BJP were raised in the urban body elections held a year ago, there are signs of change in the political scenario. Remember that Katni mayor election was fought under the patronage of Sanjay Pathak, in which BJP’s official candidate Jyoti Dixit was defeated by BJP’s rebel Preeti Suri.
The aspect to consider is that many veteran leaders including Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, State President and local MP VD Sharma had campaigned fiercely for the BJP candidate.
BJP-Congress have conducted many surveys for the upcoming elections. In various survey reports, the atmosphere is currently in favor of the Congress, so it is being speculated that not only the district but also the state’s most popular assembly seat, Vijayraghavgarh, will change its political scenario or Sanjay Pathak will adopt the strategy of swimming with the current.
Padma- Dhruv Pratap, Who will contest..?
In the 2013 assembly elections, Congress candidate Sanjay Pathak was given a tough fight by BJP candidate Padma Shukla, he won but by just 950 votes. According to arithmetic, Sanjay Pathak may have been successful in winning, but the small margin also emerged as a bias in the falling graph of his popularity. Meanwhile Sanjay Pathak joined the BJP in 2014 sensing the political equation of the area. On the other hand, in order to secure her political future, Padma Shukla also switched sides and joined the Congress. Later in the by-elections again both the leaders stood in front of each other. But despite changing the party and symbol, Sanjay Pathak managed to register a huge victory with a margin of 53397 votes. Despite continuous defeat, Padma Shukla is active, and is also making efforts to claim again. However, former MLA Dhruv Pratap Singh, who was a staunch BJP leader, has also now become a Congressman. Along with being elected MLA, Dhruv Pratap Singh has also been the chairman of Katni Development Authority. Dhruv Pratap is also considered a strong contender for ticket from Congress. Dhruv Pratap and Padma Shukla are currently competing to get tickets. Only time will tell whose fortune will prevail among the two Congress leaders, but it is certain that the BJP can definitely get the benefit of the competition of these leaders.
Congress depending on anti-incumbency factor
In various survey reports, the atmosphere is said to be favorable to the Congress, and former MLA Dhruv Pratap Singh, who is considered a big leader of the area, and former district president of Bahoriband, Shankar Mahto, have switched sides and joined the Congress. But it is a common discussion that both the leaders have changed sides to earn political gains. Apart from this, the local Congress youth leaders are not very happy with the arrival of Dhruv Pratap and Shankar Mahato, they feel that their political future may be in danger due to the new leaders. In the midst of these conditions, regional Congress strategists are anticipating the benefits of the anti-incumbency wave, but experts say that even in 2018, there was anti-incumbency and the Congress came to power, yet Sanjay Pathak saved the seat. However, the Congress is riding on the hopes of the anti-incumbency wave, it remains to be seen to what extent the hopes of the Congress can be fulfilled.
