Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh will be held at the end of next year but the electoral board has already been laid and the battlefield has been set. It is also almost certain that Congress will once again fight on the face of Kamal Nath and the command of BJP will be in the hands of Shivraj Singh Chouhan. According to informed sources in the Congress, former Chief Minister Kamal Nath has left the post of leader of the legislature party on the condition that the party will contest the elections on his face. The Congress high command has given its green signal. It is being told that Digvijay Singh also has no objection that Congress should contest elections in the name of Kamal Nath. Last time too, Kamal Nath had done all the work from mobilizing resources to contesting elections. This time he will handle the election.
The fight of Shivraj Singh Chouhan on behalf of BJP has also been almost decided against him. There was speculation for some time that the BJP high command might change the leadership in the state. But now that possibility is gone. Not only has Shivraj Singh Chouhan been retained, but clear indications have also been given that the party will contest the elections under his command. This is because the party does not want to take any risk. In the last election also, the party fought on his face and despite 15 years of anti-incumbency, gave an equal contest. Apart from this, there is also a reason that in place of Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the party could not put up any big backward leader in the state and the party will not take any risk in the name of any upper caste leader. After Chauhan, all the leaders of the party, such as Kailash Vijayvargiya, Narottam Mishra, Gopal Bhargava, Vishnu Dutt Sharma are all forward castes. Therefore, in Madhya Pradesh, the match will be between Kamal Nath and Shivraj.