Madhya Pradesh: Jyotiraditya Scindia's wife campaigns for her husband, says "Our relationship with people is 300 years old"
Guna: As the third phase of Lok Sabha elections are round the corner, Union minister and BJP candidate Jyotiraditya Scindia's wife Priyadarshini Raje Scindia has also landed in the fray to campaign in support of her husband.
Scindia's wife on Thursday reached Bhadora village in Guna district and interacted with people here. She said that she did not reach there as a leader and her relationship with them (people) was not one or two generations old but it was a 300-year-old relationship.
"I have not come here as a leader. The relationship between you (people) and us is not one or two generations old but a 300-year-old relationship. This family (Scindia) has settled many villages here and even today work is done in those villages," She said.
Recalling the defeat of Jyotiraditya Scindia during 2019 general elections, Priyadarshini Raje Scindia said, "After the previous LS polls, we also thought about what happened but we could not understand. Later, it came to my mind that 'Ghar ki murgi daal barabar' (Self possessions are always undermined and others possessions seem better). Everyone knows here that you can vote for anyone, but you will get the work done by Maharaj (Scinda) only."
She further asked the people that whenever someone loses an election, did that person ever come back again there? Why didn't he come, because he had no work there after that. But Maharaj came. Why did he come, because his home and family are here. This relationship is not because of any caste or party but a family relationship.
"After the election when Maharaj faced defeat, we went to other states and everyone used to ask us how this happened. We cannot believe that the people (Scindia) who work considering them (public) as their family have left him. Nothing happened to Maharaj but people questioned people of this area. Elections come and go. People come and go but this family (Scindia) never left you (people)," the union minister's wife added.
During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Scindia, then a Congress candidate, had lost to BJP candidate K P Yadav. Scindia's defeat from his own turf by 1.25 lakh votes set in motion a series of events, including an internal party struggle, eventually resulting in Scindia's exit from the party in 2020.
He took 22 MLAs with him, causing the collapse of the then Congress government led by Kamal Nath that had come to power in 2018. The BJP brought Scindia into Parliament via the Rajya Sabha and made him a Union minister.
Scindia is contesting again from the same Guna seat on BJP symbol this time while the rival congress candidate Rao Yadvendra Singh is also a former BJP leader and contesting against the union minister.
Guna will go to the polls in the third phase on May 7 with eight other parliamentary seats of the state.
Lok Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh are being conducted in four phases. The first phase of polling was held on April 19. The next three phases will be conducted on April 26, May 7 and May 13. The counting of votes will be held on June 4.
Madhya Pradesh has a total of 29 Lok Sabha constituencies, making it the sixth-largest state in terms of parliamentary representation. Out of these, 10 seats are reserved for SC and ST candidates, while the remaining 19 are unreserved.