With just three days remaining for voting in Madhya Pradesh, election campaign has reached its zenith with both the Congress and the BJP pulling out their best in the last leg. However, it is the resource-rich BJP which seems to be ahead of a fund-starved Congress.
With three major insertions of print advertisement in over a hundred dailies in the state, and round the clock radio and television advertisement, the BJP was way ahead compared to the Congress which just had a single advertisement of a very small size.
The Congress campaign with the slogan, “waqt hai badlaav ka”, looked very ordinary against the multi-crore BJP campaign which focused on Chief Minister Shivraj Singh with a sarcastic take on the Congress leaders, saying, “maanf karo maharaj”.
While the BJP carried its campaign advertisements on a range of conventional and non-conventional media, the Congress limited itself to television, radio and outdoor. The BJP focused evenly on print and electronic medium including video vans, among others.
According to a media manager in-charge of hiring space on television, “all the regional channels have been engaged for the last four days so that the Congress can not get a space even if it desires to do so.” With huge spending on television channels, the rallies and public meetings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party president Amit Shah and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh were telecast live. On the contrary, Congress president Rahul Gandhi did not get live coverage like the BJP leaders.
While the BJP has deployed over one dozen top leaders in the country to address rallies across the state, the Congress has banked upon Kamalnath, Jyotiraditya Scindia and some other regional leaders.
Rahul Gandhi addressed last campaign rally in the state on Saturday while the prime minister will be active till November 26, the last day of campaign. The BJP has deployed half a dozen helicopters and four jet aircrafts to ferry its leaders while the Congress has three choppers and two aircrafts.
The huge difference in financial resources is evident on the ground where the Congress candidates are fighting on their own with limited funds. However, the BJP appears to be much better organised with the support of their cadres and managers to look after the campaign.
According to known sources, the BJP will be spending an estimated amount of Rs 2,500 crore to Rs 3,000 crore in the state, which is nearly half of what they spent in Uttar Pradesh assembly elections last year. The Congress, on the other hand, is spending about Rs 500 crore.
