BHOPAL: With barely a week left for campaigning in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh , reports of public anger against official candidates during poll campaign has alarmed the party leadership and forced it to take immediate steps to retrieve the situation.Sources in BJP said that recent incidents of some party candidates being heckled, opposed by the public over non-completion of development works have compelled the leadership to begin a damage control exercise during the last leg of poll campaigning. The worst affected areas are Chambal, Vindhya and Bundelkhand regions where party has asked senior leaders to camp and monitor the campaigns amid hectic poll schedule. The leadership has also decided to take help of RSS to deploy its pracharaks to convince voters for support."There were some incidents, though trivial, where BJP candidates had to face public ire over local issues. Recently, in Sanver (Indore), Mandsaur, Ratlam, Rajgarh, Agar-Malwa, Susner (Mandsaur), Ambah and Porsa (Morena), Sagar, Budhni, Silwani, Sanchi and Huzur (Bhopal), BJP workers and candidates had to face ire of voters due to non-performance or delay in completion of works. The party is trying to manage the situation with the help of senior leaders and RSS", said sources in BJP.The situation in Chambal region has become alarming where caste-based aggression has gripped the poll mood against both BJP and Congress candidates. In Gwalior, Bhind, Morena and Sheopur, the party has gathered feedback against BJP candidates much to the concern of the state leadership.The BJP leadership has asked RSS cadre to convince the dissidents and manage campaigning with only one week left for polling on 230 seats. The party has also stationed Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar in Chambal region to monitor and manage the situation, said sources, adding that party state organising general secretary Suhas Bhagat, national vice-president Ramlal among others are also keeping a vigil. The party has also launched campaigning by star campaigners including Hema Malini and Union minister Uma Bharti.In Bundelkhand, the BJP leadership is concerned about growing influence of Samajwadi Party on the bordering seats. The party is apprehensive of losing three seats to SP and a same number of seats to Congress. A similar situation has developed in Sagar division where local community members have expressed anger over ticket distribution.Party leaders in Vindhya are also facing a tough challenge from regional parties, including the newly formed SAPAKS, Sawarn Samaj Party and AAP. In most of the constituencies, there is a multi-corner contest with caste-based groups managing the campaign. There is an intense lobbying among Thakur-Brahmin, Brahmin-Vaishya, Thakur-OBC and other castes which is making the contest a real hard tussle for all candidates. Anti-reservation groups are also active here, said sources.The BSP has also claimed to have fielded strong candidates on all seats of Bindelkhand with main focus on Sagar, Chhattarpur, Gwalior, Morena, Satna and Rewa districts. Party leaders also claimed that there could be mutual understanding between common groups keeping in mind the caste-based social equations to prevent polarisation of votes in favour of BJP.

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