When one talks of infighting in Madhya Pradesh the reference is usually to the Congress party. However, once the results are announced on Saturday, it will be the BJP that will have to deal with the more serious charge of sabotage from within.

Veteran BJP leader and Indore candidate Sumitra Mahajan has alleged sabotage by supporters of her local rival and senior minister Kailash Vijayvargiya.

BJP’s state unit general secretary (Organisation) Makhan Singh is already in Indore to get a feedback on Mahajan’s complaint.

Mahajan, who is contesting for the seventh time, having won all the elections since 1989, has even taken up the matter with the senior leadership. The complaint was made in writing, on her behalf. Vijayvargiya’s supporters have been accused of doing everything to damage her prospects; from non-cooperation in campaigning to installing anonymous hoardings, to sending SMS appeals to refrain from voting.

While Vijayvargiya has refuted the charge, saying he was put in charge of neighbouring constituencies and had no idea what happened behind his back, there are few takers for his defence. Mahajan’s candidature was openly opposed by his supporters immediately after elections were announced

Vijayvargiya had recently defended the opposition to her candidature as a democratic right, but claimed that once she was given the ticket, everybody worked for her and that she would win by a huge margin.

The relations between the two Indore stalwarts worsened ahead of the Assembly elections. While Vijayvargiya was accused of being instrumental in the denial of a ticket to Mahajan’s son, Mahajan had, in turn, fiercely opposed the candidature of Ramesh Mendola, the minister’s confidant. As a result, Vijayvargiya shifted to Mhow constituency, vacating his traditional seat for Mendola.

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