The Countdown Highlights: Will Shivraj Chouhan Win Fourth Term In Madhya Pradesh?

That's all for today. For more election news and updates, tune in to NDTV.

I don't see a swing towards the Congress. I see a swing away from the BJP. Whether that will be enough to get the Congress a win, is not certain yet, says poll expert Shekhar Gupta

Here is the interview of Congress leader Kamal Nath.

#TheCountdown | "People have unequivocally decided that they want to oust this (BJP) government": Congress' @OfficeOfKNath on #MadhyaPradeshElections2018

Watch election analysis with Prannoy Roy - https://t.co/qFjEYZVCPb
Track LIVE updates: https://t.co/Vwgx1lbKFjpic.twitter.com/W1QtejPPGF

- NDTV (@ndtv) November 28, 2018

Question: But this time you are facing a fairly united Congress party, is that right? More united from before.
Prabhat Jha: Where is the unity? They unite when Rahul Gandhi comes here. The rest of the time they are like an orange. One unit from outside, but many pieces on the inside. The Congress has no workers on the ground. They have 40-50 individual leaders who think they can win an election by themselves. At the booth level, on the ground, they have  nobody. Because they have become an election party. When the elections come, so does Rahul Gandhi. And so does Kamal Nath. Why don't you ask him how many districts he has visited? He has been here for six months. There are 51 districts. Has he been to even 20 or 25? Has Jyotiraditya Scindia been? Where are the leaders? Digvijaya Singh is having to admit that if I start campaigning, I will cut into the party's votes. So how will these leaders get them votes? This is why we are not saying anything. We are campaigning as strongly as we did in 2003. We trust the people. We have brought the light of development, not the light of Diwali, into 5 crore 50 lakh homes. 1 crore families are beneficiaries in every way.

Question: Thank you very much for joining us. In this elections, you've been in power for 15 years. Are you worried about fourth term meaning anti-incumbency? 15 years is quite difficult to win again.

Prabhat Jha: As a journalist, I heard the word anti-incumbency at the time Prakash Chandra Sethi was the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. It is a word used only during the elections. In comparison, in 15 years here, our work has been pro-poor. We used to be called the party of baniyas & brahmins and now we are called the party of the poor. So we proudly say the BJP is the only pro-poor party and we are working for the poor. Middle class families, lower class families, they all are with us.

Question: Do you regret not tying up with the BSP?

Digvijaya Singh: No we wanted to tie up with them but they jumped the gun. They declared 22 seats without our understanding. So that became difficult.

Question: But is it a regret that you didn't?

Digvijaya Singh: Not really regret. But I can tell you the two positives. There is a huge groundswell against the BJP. So it's not the parties, the people are fighting against the BJP now. And that has become evident in the last two three days.

Question: So transportation meaning getting...

Digvijaya Singh: The money to...

Question:: ....the voters to the booth, that sort of thing or getting their candidates out

Digvijaya Singh: Handing over the money to the candidates

Question: Oh I see, transporting the money, okay.

Digvijaya Singh: Number two, they have had some links with the Gondwana Gantantra Parishad. Gondwana Gantantra Parishad has been taking money from the BJP and putting up candidates. I don't know about BSP but BSP list also and Samajwadi list also is something that brings in a doubt.

Question: I've heard that, but you never know if it's fake or true

Digvijaya Singh: No, that can be checked. But  I have checked myself and voice sort of matches with Mukesh Tandon and Rakesh Kumar Singh. So huge money they would be pumping and they have planned it in a way that transportation is not a problem now, number one.

Question: So now elections are about to happen. What are your two worries and two factors that you're pleased with? I know you'll start with the pleased with.

Digvijaya Singh: No, I'll start with worries. Worries that they are throwing a lot of money in the last three days. And they've got a huge amount of money.

Question: Issues?

Digvijaya Singh: Issues, of course, Congress could not really put up a real challenge as an opposition party for 5 years.

Question: Why is that?

Digvijaya Singh: Probably, I would say, people were more engaged in their own areas.

Question: So it was a divided party. Is it still slightly divided?

Digvijaya Singh: I can assure you that I have never seen Congress party so united as this time.

Question: The question also is why for the last 15 years the Congress hasn't been able to make a comeback? BJP won last time by 9%, which is a big margin. What are the issues that have caused this huge gap in the Congress ruling this state?

Digvijaya Singh: Well, first of all, there were more than 60 lakh bogus voters which we don't look at. This time we have done a very close scrutiny of the voters list and we've been able to identify voters who have figured at different polling booths in different assembly.

Question: Thank you very much for joining us, I know that for once in your life you are working very hard. Tell me, we're trying to understand, for 15 years the Congress has been out. Why, what happened?

Digvijaya Singh: First of all, let me strongly object 'for first time in my life I'm working hard'. I worked hard all my life. Anyway, see I kept out of the campaign because I was asked to, sort of, not to interfere too much in Madhya Pradesh. So I kept out of the two campaigns. Whatever I could, whatever I was asked to do, I did it. This time I have spent one year, more than one year now, in Madhya Pradesh. First, walking 3100 kms. along the river Narmada, covering about 104 constituencies. Then we started this coordination committee meetings in every district where I covered 194, including so many senior leaders who are not fighting assembly elections. And we covered 194 constituencies and we met more than 200,000 workers one to one to get a feel of what is happening on the ground.

Question: Still, what's that one worry that you have on your mind?

Jyotiraditya Scindia: I think, this time we have knitted together the campaign really well. Our feet are  on the ground, our  foot soldiers are on the ground, our workers are in  great gusto and great form. I think, the people of Madhya Pradesh will give you a very clear verdict in terms of... whether we can ensure that we take our voters to the polling booths and ensure that they cast their franchise. Conversion factor...from sentiment to actual polling is crucial in an election.

Question: What is that one worry that is on your mind when you go to sleep at night?

Jyotiraditya Scindia:Not one. Not one, Prannoy, but many. I was fortunate enough to be taught at Business school at Stanford by one of the Founders of Intel, Andy Grove, and he told us, in his last class, he said, "Whatever you guys do in life, good luck to you guys. I only leave you with one last word of advice. Always remember that only the paranoid survive. So, I am paranoid. I always am. It is good to be paranoid."

Question: What went wrong with your party's tie up with Mayawati? Are the doors closed to this alliance in future?

Jyotiraditya Scindia:Well, it didn't workout and that's fine because sometimes things are not to be but that doesn't mean that the door is closed on that relationship for the future. In the Lok Sabha, we will try and write earnest to develop that relationship, once again.

Question: We have travelled across the state and have interacted with many people and observed, one very popular scheme in these elections in MP has been the Pucca Houses. How are you going to counter that?

Jyotiraditya Scindia: First of all, that scheme was setup by the Congress government and the loans for the houses   that I've been giving out today, are being given on the basis of the survey that we carried out when Dr Manmohan Singh was Prime Minister in 2012 and 2013. So, it is on the basis of the hard work of the Congress, that today, this scheme is being unveiled. Also, people do remember  that this housing scheme has been in place for the last 15 years - all the way from the years of the Congress government.

Question: Of the 2, who is your Main Opponent, Modi or Shivraj?

Jyotiraditya Scindia: Wait, let me tell you this - this election has turned into a election of the people vs the BJP.  So, the main opponent of the people of Madhya Pradesh are both - Shivraj Singh Chouhan ji and Narendra Modi ji,  for all the havoc there has been wrecked upon them, in the last 15 years and the last 5 years. There in saying in English that goes, 'you can fool some of the people, and some of the time but you cannot fool all the people, all the time".  The time for reckoning, for the BJP, is now here.

Dr Roy: Tell me one indicator which might, which must, worry you is the by-elections that happened, where although the Congress held onto both seats, the margins narrowed terribly and there was about a 10-12% swing in favour of BJP but they still lost. That swing in favour - did that worry you?

Prannoy, at the end of the day you either win or you lose. We have had 5 by-elections in Madhya Pradesh in the 12 months - 4 on an assembly level and 1 on a Lok Sabha level. I, personally, was  in charge of 3 out of the 4 on the assembly level. The Congress Party has won all 5 by-elections in Madhya Pradesh in the last one year - a very clear signal to the BJP that they are on their way out. As for the remark to made with the regard to margins, please do remember, in a  by-election  and historically speaking...and you have that sense of history behind you, having been part of covering elections for the last 30 to 40 years. By-elections in India always generally go in favour of the incumbent government. In  Madhya Pradesh, it has been the other way round which very clearly tells you that all the money pressure, political pressure; I had 40 ministers of the government sitting in 2 assemblies, in my parliament constituency. Their  single efforts  was to make sure I lose but I always said this and I repeated on your show that "BJP ke dhanbal ke oopar, BJP ke bahubal ke oopar, Janabal haavi ho chuka hai".

"The time for Madhya Pradesh is one for change," says Congress' Jyotiraditya Scindia.
"Every segment of society needs to be uplifted in Madhya Pradesh. Whether it's the farmers, the youth, the women... everyone has suffered over the last 15 years. Shivraj Singh says, "15 saal bemisaal". I say, "15 saal, behaal" and now is the time to bring about change."

Congress' Kamal Nath, when asked if he was going to be the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, says "didn't want this job".
"I didn't want this job to start with. Now having taken this job, I am not hungry for a post or position... We don't have a chief ministerial candidate. Whoever our party decides, whatever modality Mr Rahul Gandhi wants to adopt in naming the chief minister, he will do so. I am very happy with that."

Is Congress' Kamal Nath worried about the "Modi magic"?
"If Modi magic and Amit Shah magic didn't work in the biggest bastion of the BJP (Gujarat), then where do I see it working now? The depreciation of PM Modi is happening tremendously. What he was able to do one or two years back, he can't do that now."

BJP attempting to communalise the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections, says Congress' Kamal Nath.
"What worries me are the attempts by the BJP to communalise this election. They will try... because this has been their game. That's the card left - to try and communalise the elections. But I think that the people of Madhya Pradesh are smart enough to know that."

I haven't seen this in 40 years. Every section of society is against this government, and they are looking for a change. And this change is happening now on a daily basis, on an hourly basis: Kamal Nath  

Madhya Pradesh has grown 10-12 per cent a year under BJP - which is among the highest in the country - but from a very small base. So it hasn't caught up to other states, says Prannoy Roy

Municipal elections are a reliable indicator of upcoming results if they are held within 6 months of the state polls and these were held in 2017, says Dr Prannoy Roy

Shivraj Chouhan is BJP's trump card. He is a good speaker and popular even after 15 years in power, says Dr Prannoy Roy

The old tradition of women voting as their husbands ask them to is changing, says poll expert Shekhar Gupta

The turnout of women this time could be higher, says Dr Prannoy Roy