Jyotiraditya Scindia's Collectorate Comeback Shakes BJP: Gwalior Politics Split Wide Open

What was meant to be a bland review of development works in the Gwalior Collectorate on Monday turned into a sizzling political theatre. The star of the show - Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, who walked in after a year-and-a-half-long silence and instantly set the city's political cauldron boiling.

On paper, the meeting was led by Minister-in-Charge Tulsi Silavat, but no one missed who stole the limelight. Flanked by Energy Minister Pradhuman Singh Tomar, Minister Narayan Singh Kushwaha, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Ashok Singh, Mayor Shobha Sikarwar, and Congress MLA Suresh Raje, Mr Scindia dominated the stage. But the empty chair of Gwalior BJP MP Bharat Singh Kushwaha screamed louder than any speech.

Mr Scindia's re-entry wasn't casual. Sources whisper that both the Chief Minister and BJP's central brass have told him to reclaim lost ground in the Gwalior-Chambal belt once his impregnable fortress. His earlier retreat was triggered when Bharat Singh Kushwaha had publicly objected to his presence, saying "He is MP of Guna-Shivpuri, not Gwalior." That snub had pushed Mr Scindia into the wings. Until now.

For weeks, headlines from Gwalior have screamed about broken roads and overflowing sewage. The loudest voice has been Mr Scindia's closest aide, Energy Minister Pradhuman Singh Tomar, who thundered in a cabinet meeting: "Gwalior has turned into hell." Even when the Chief Minister tried to shush him, Mr Tomar doubled down. Tulsi Silavat (Minister Incharge of Gwalior) backed him too.

Mr Scindia's Collectorate show came just days after a grand reception in Morena, the turf of Speaker Narendra Singh Tomar. The rivalry is open. Narendra Tomar controls the local levers, but Agriculture Minister Edal Singh Kansana is no longer firmly in his camp. Meanwhile, Bharat Singh Kushwaha, Mr Tomar's loyalist, has been conspicuously cooling off in Bhopal, under the Chief Minister's watchful eye.

The message from Monday was unmistakable - BJP in Gwalior is now in two camps. Just three days ago, MP Bharat Singh Kushwaha had reviewed development works. On Monday, Mr Scindia swept into the Collectorate with his loyalists, reviewing the same works minus the MP. The optics? This was Mr Scindia's first Collectorate meeting as BJP MP, and he owned it. His followers whispered gleefully that the "Maharaj era" when nothing moved in Gwalior without is nod during Congress days was staging a comeback.

Mr Tomar has been Mr Scindia's drum-beater in public. At Murar Girls College, he declared "Maharaj, Gwalior's wheel of development has stopped. Only you can lead it forward." Soon after, Scindia loyalist MLA Mohan Singh Rathore blasted the government's flagship Jal Jeevan Mission, saying not a single project had reached his constituency. Then Mr Tomar called Gwalior "hell," Mr Scindia launched a four-day tour, and capped it by marching into Morena Narendra Tomar's backyard pointedly saying the BJP had won "only half the seats in the last Assembly elections." Everyone knew who he was aiming at.

Now, the latest meeting with Mr Scindia centerstage, Mr Silavat and Mr Tomar cheering him on, and Bharat Singh Kushwaha's absence has made one thing clear: all is not well inside BJP's fortress. The Scindia camp feels suffocated inside a party that doesn't allow the same unchecked dominance he enjoyed in Congress, and his supporters haven't hidden their frustration.

Adding spice, the feud has spilled onto social media. BJP leaders themselves have turned gladiators online: Sonu Mangal, a Tomar loyalist, clashing with Dinesh Sharma, a Scindia supporter. Their war of words mirrors the divide ripping through the saffron ranks in Gwalior.