The Sikarwar family which has a big influence among Kshatriya voters of Morena constituency is now totally with the Congress. While elder brother Satish Sikarwar is the Congress MLA in Gwalior district, Satish’s wife Shobha is the Gwalior mayor. With Satyapal now being named the Congress candidate from Morena, the family will use all its influence among the Kshatriya and Brahmin voters to win the seat, which the Congress won last in 1991.In the adjoining Gwalior Lok Sabha seat, while the BJP has fielded another Tomar loyalist and ex-minister Bharat Singh Kushwah, who lost the 2023 assembly polls from Gwalior-Rural by over 3000 votes, the Congress has fielded its ex-Gwalior South MLA Praveen Pathak, who failed to retain his assembly seat by merely 200-odd votes in 2023.The BJP and the Congress had both won four assembly segments each of the Gwalior Lok Sabha seat in 2023. By fielding Praveen Pathak from Gwalior, the Congress is seeking to give a positive signal to Brahmins (who constitute 2-3 lakh votes in the adjoining Morena Lok Sabha seat) and by fielding Sikarwar from Morena, it’s trying to add to Pathak’s popularity the power of the Sikarwar family in Gwalior, thus hoping to do something big in both seats through the targeted Brahmin-Kshatriya chemistry.In the adjoining Guna seat, the Congress is pinning hopes on the possibility of internal sabotage by BJP cadres against Scindia coupled with the angst of the Yadav caste (the most dominant OBC bloc in the constituency) over the denial of a ticket to first-time MP Dr KP Yadav. To benefit on both counts, the Congress has fielded the traditional BJP family’s elder son Rao Yadvendra Singh Yadav against Scindia in Guna.
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