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With poll campaigning coming to an end for second phase of elections in Madhya Pradesh, it just wasn't Jaibhan Singh Pawaiya's day today. The BJP candidate is contesting the high profile Guna Lok Sabha seat and facing Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.
Pawaiya, a known critic of the Scindias, has ticked his top party leader Sushma Swaraj off, leaving a trail of questions over the party’s poll campaign management and plans.
Here is what happened today: Sushma Swaraj - BJP’s star campaigner left Shivpuri (party of the constituency) helipad in a huff when she found there was nobody to receive her. She was to address a pre-scheduled public meeting there. Pawaiya and party workers did not turn up to greet her.
Though reports reaching here said that local party workers rushed to tender an apology later, she refused to come back and flew to Ashok Nagar – another important town of the Guna Lok Sabha constituency -- where she again found Pawaiya missing.
She tagged Pawaiya with a remark “Ahamkari” (proud) and admonished him later. A choked Pawaiya remained speechless. Guna Shivpuri is a constituency where royalty still holds a sway though the Scindia kingdom is history.
Pawaiya comes from Hindu outfit Bajrang Dal and is known for his vitriolic outbursts against the royalty at every rally. Pawaiya is also known for forcing late Madhavrao Scindia to quit the Gwalior seat when he had a neck-and-neck battle in the 1998 elections. Madhavrao won, but it was not a royal victory. The scare forced Scindia to shift to Guna in 1999.
In his recent campaign, Pawaiya seems buoyed up with the so-called “Modi wave” and has been declaring, “2014 will be a bigger surprise than 1998,” during his recent campaigns.
On an earlier occasion again in Shivpuri, the saffron rabble-rouser was admonished by Yashodhara Raje Scindia, a minister in the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh, at a public meeting for not showing respect to her mother Vijayaraje Scindia. Pawaiya, a known critic of the Scindias, had left the podium.
Madhya Pradesh will vote for 10 Lok Sabha seats, including Guna on 17th of this month.
