Lok Sabha elections: Old rivals face off in Morena as Cong sniffs chance in BJP dissent

BHOPAL: The Morena

Lok Sabha

constituency will witness a tough fight between old rivals Narendra Singh Tomar from BJP and Ramnivas Rawat from Congress under the new regime led by chief minister Kamal Nath in Madhya Pradesh.


Tomar and Rawat were pitted against each other in 2009

Lok Sabha elections

where Tomar had emerged victorious by a margin of over one lakh votes.

The seat has come to limelight following dissidence withing the BJP with sitting MP Anoop Mishra and former MP Ashok Argal being not happy on given tickets. Argal may enter the fray as an independent after the Congress coldshouldered him. In 2014, BJP candidate Anoop Mishra notched a clean sweep against his Congress rival Brindavan Singh Sikarwar by a margin of over 1.30 lakh votes. Congress candidate Dr Govind Singh emerged third in the fray trailing behind by 1.91 lakh votes.

Morena Lok Sabha, an SC reserved seat till 2009, turned a saffron bastion since 1996 when BJP candidate Ashok Argal registered a big victory from the constituency by over 40,000 votes. In 2009, the seat was declared unreserved during delimitation and Tomar retained the constituency.

The Morena Lok Sabha covers eight assembly seats — Madhavpur, Vijayapur, Sabalgarh, Joura, Sumawali, Morena, Dimani and Ambah (SC) — of Morena and Sheopur districts.

The birthplace of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and dreaded dacoit Paan Singh Tomar, Morena once witnessed mass surrender of over 100 dacoits in Joura under the patronage of Gandhian leader and social worker Subbarao, to eliminate dacoits from the Chambal region.

Known for its tourist attractions like Doob Kund, Ram-Janaki Temple, Sheopur Fort, Vijaypur

Durg

, Rameshwar Sangam, Jinn ki Masjid and the most prominent Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary, Morena however, could not be developed as a tourist spot to generate employment after restoring peace in the area.

After coming to power, BJP tried to restore dilapidated road network, power and water supply in the region, but much is still needed. Unemployment, farmer distress, lack of flyovers and connectivity in rural areas and industrial slum are some of the major problems in the region. A large number of youth also join Army and para-military forces from this region, but there is no big institute.

With ample agricultural land, the Morena parliamentary constituency has been declared as one of the backward regions as per the 2006 notifications of ministry of panchayati raj. With caste equation playing a major role in deciding the mandate, the majority voter population is divided into SCs, Thakurs and a few Brahmins.

As per reports, BJP is facing anti-incumbency due to complaints of non-performance by sitting MP Anoop Mishra. Mishra claims, “We have constructed roads, flyovers, tried to help farmers get the justified price of their produce through bonus and minimum support price (MSP) formula. But much is still to be done,” said Mishra.

The Congress though dubbed the BJP rule as the biggest failure in the region. “BJP failed to fulfil promises of providing jobs to the youth,” said Congress spokesperson J P Dhanopia.