Jyotiraditya’s wife may fight from his LS seat as Guna MP focuses on UP

Bhopal: Erstwhile royal and Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia’s wife Priyadarshniraje has decided to take a plunge into politics and started preparations to contest from the Guna Lok Sabha seat, currently represented by her husband, in the upcoming general elections.

The 44-year-old princess of former state of Baroda, the Scindia bahu, has a job cut out for her — to counter the challenge posed to the political ambitions of her husband by his adversaries and in the process safeguarding the political influence of the Gwalior royal family.

She will be the fourth “Maharani” from Gwalior royal palace after Late Vijayaraje Scindia, veteran Jansangh leader and her two daughters, former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhararaje Scindia and former Madhya Pradesh minister Yasodhararaje Scindia to join politics.

Her debut in politics has coincided with the surprise development of Mr Scindia being given charge of west Uttar Pradesh, comprising 46 parliamentary constituencies in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The task ahead for Priyadarshiniraje appears very challenging, for she has been caught in the crossfire of ongoing rivalries between her husband and veteran Congress leader Digvijay Singh.

The “challenging” assignment given to Mr Scindia has been projected as rise of his stature in the party, but a section of Congress here viewed it as machinations by his adversaries to alienate Mr Scindia, the inheritor of political legacy of Gwalior royal palace, from Madhya Pradesh politics for quite a long time, thus, denying him the opportunity to nurture his parliamentary constituency.

The buzz in Congress has indicated intensifying tussle between Mr Scindia and Mr Singh with the rival leaders seeing each other a threat to their interests in the state in future.

No wonder, Mr Scindia’s followers have blamed the former chief minister for botching the prospects of their leader of becoming the chief minister, notwithstanding the fact that Congress staged a comeback to power in the state after 15 years in November Assembly elections.

In this backdrop, the Gwalior palace has unleashed its “Maharani” to strengthen support base of her husband.

The glamorous Scindia bahu, who appeared in Verve’s “Best dressed-2008” hall of fame list and was included in “India’s 50 most Beautiful Women” list by Femina in 2012, has undertook a week-long tour to Shivpuri, Badarwas, Kolaras, Pichhor, Ashoknagar and other areas in the rural and urban belts of Guna parliamentary constituency.

“During her tour, she struck a right chord with party workers who have been greeting her with warmth wherever she goes. Mr Scindia may vacate his Guna seat for her and shift to Gwalior in the upcoming general elections. But, the final decision rests with the party high command,” a spokesman of Congress here indicated.

Incidentally, she had posted a picture of her along with her husband in her Facebook account on October 11, 2015. The catchline of the post read, “The Connections”. Ironically, she has been tasked to function as “the connection” between her husband and his constituents now.

The erstwhile royal family of Gwalior, deemed as one of the five most important princely states by British Raj, had become instrumental in virtually demolishing the political career of former chief minister of undivided Madhya Pradesh, the late Dwaraka Prasad Mishra, known as the “Iron Man” of MP, when it faced threat to its political relevance due to his “machinations”.

Undivided Madhya Pradesh had plunged into political turmoil when the late Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia, the Dowager Queen of former Gwalior kingdom, dislodged the D.P. Mishra government in 1967 by effecting defections in the ruling Congress then, thus foiling the attempts by the veteran leader to marginalise her in Congress and cut the family down to size.

Political observers draw a parallel between her unanticipated debut in politics and the event of 1967 involving her grandmother-in-law.

“Broadly speaking, the late Rajmata and her granddaughter-in-law have a common mission, to protect political legacy of Gwalior palace, threatened by their respective adversaries,” said Manoj Dwivedy, a Bhopal-based political analyst.