Hand tries hard to dilute saffron colour of Vidisha

Saffron has been the colour of Vidisha for decades with Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan winning the seat numerous times.

Vidisha: Saffron has been the colour of Vidisha for decades and when Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan`s candidature was announced from the seat, it was a well-calculated attempt by BJP to prevent a somewhat strengthened "hand" from diluting this colour.

Chouhan is the only candidate in Madhya Pradesh who is contesting from two seats---Vidisha and his sitting seat Budhni, a fact which has given the Opposition Congress a ready ammunition to target the Chief Minister, saying he was "not confident" of a win. As the sex scandal involving Raghavji, the sitting MLA, who had won the Vidisha seat on BJP ticket last time, broke out in open, there was shock. The bigger shock that BJP did not anticipate was that Raghavji was defiant and threatened to rock the BJP`s boat. The Jain leader, who became a persona non grata after a CD of his purportedly having unnatural sex with his domestic help surfaced, continues to have clout in Vidisha town, where 106 of the 239 booths of the constituency are located. Realising the consequences, BJP got into the exercise to get Raghavji on board, though it was clear that neither Raghavji will be fielded from the seat nor his daughter Jyoti Shah, the local Mayor. After intense pulls and pressures on both sides, the formulae that emerged was that the old veteran will not attempt to turn the tide against the party only if either Chouhan or his wife Sadhna Singh contested from the seat. Chouhan had represented the Vidisha Parliamentary seat five times, which is now held by Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj and it was believed that the Chief Minister, owing to his personal rapport with people, will be able to withstand any adverse situation. Both Vidisha Parliamentary and assembly seat fall in the category of those seats in the state, where the hand could not reach closer to the lotus and it was a prestige seat for the BJP. The turf had to secured and so BJP`s brand image in this election Shivraj Singh Chouhan has been deputed. Vidisha has been a home, though many time temporary, to the who`s who of Indian politics but that has not taken constituency to any envious position.