'Congress is confident about its caste combination in MP'

Q: How do you see MP elections unfolding? You won in 2018, but lost power after a year.A: I have full faith in the voters of MP. They have been victims of BJP’s misrule. The voter today is not the voter from five or 10 years ago. I’m confident the voter is going to keep the future of MP secure. This election is not about the candidates or parties, but about the future of MP.The 2018 election was very close; a reason why BJP could set off defections and topple your government. What is your prediction this time?They did not engineer defections, they engineered a ‘sauda’ (deal). Don’t you think people of MP realise that? We got 115 seats last time. I had been state Congress president at the time for just four months. Now, they know better. MP’s people voted for us – that figure of 115, of 230 seats, was illustrative, definitive. I have contested elections for 44 years; I can see the ‘voltage’ among voters. People will oust this Shivraj Chouhan government. I don’t predict the number of seats; I leave that to Shivraj Chouhan.How severe is the dissent in Congress after ticket distribution? There have been differences with other parties such as SP too. How much will it hurt Congress?We had 4,000 applicants for 230 seats. There is bound to be disappointment. If people express their disappointment, there is nothing wrong in it. They are Congressmen. It happens in every election. But I don’t think it will hurt the party’s prospects. The contest is between Congress and BJP. Other parties don’t matter. People understand that voting for others would simply be wasting their vote. When there is a bipolar clash, do you think people want to waste their vote?MP Congress has several seniors – there is you and Digvijaya Singh among others. Given the incident involving you and Singh recently over your quip to miffed ticket aspirants, how well are intra-party relations and running of election-related operations?All coordination is going fine. Everything is well. The goal is to defeat BJP. The talk of a clash with Digvijaya is rubbish. When people came to me from the Shivpuri area, I said something like “Digvijaya ke kapde faado.” What is said in jest is just that. Next day, at a big event, I said I have given power of attorney to Digvijaya to tolerate abuses on my behalf. He retorted “yes, I will.” This was all in jest.What issues could influence voters this time around as per Congress?The top issues are unemployment, inflation, and BJP’s misrule. Do we have to even say that corruption is widespread, extends from panchayat to Bhopal mantralaya? Everyone responds like this, speaks this line, when I ask in my speeches, “what is the state of corruption?” It is so bad people say ₹50,000 is taken to put a name in the BPL list. Everybody in MP is either a victim of corruption or a witness to corruption.You are said to be pursuing ‘soft Hindutva’. What is the strategy behind this?I don’t understand what is meant by soft Hindutva. I built a Hanuman temple in Chhindwara that is over 101-ft tall. It was 13 years ago, and I never publicised it. BJP gets a stomach ache when I go to temple or to a religious programme. Religion is not a matter of politics, it is a matter of personal sentiments. BJP’s efforts are always to politicise religion. What is wrong in building a temple? I built it in my own village, people come to me for help for temples and I help them. It is a personal sentiment.This election is extraordinary because one of your key leaders Jyotiraditya Scindia left Congress and joined BJP, raising questions about Congress’s strength in the Gwalior-Chambal region. How is Congress faring there?We had the mayor’s election in Morena 14 months ago and Congress won. It happened after 35 years. It is the Gurgaon of Gwalior, the suburbs. I see the Gwalior-Chambal region as one of our stronger regions.Baghelkhand (Vindhya) turned out to be the dark zone for Congress in 2018 with just 6/30 seats, and that made the tally close.The last time we gave some tickets wrongly. But this time, we’re confident about the caste combination. After all the touring I have done, there is a perceptible change. We will do well. Basically, this region or that, what is the basic issue? What do people want? They want change. This is an election between Congress and BJP. And we are confident people will choose us. I never predict the number of seats. I am not Shivraj Chouhan.