Now Cong. is where BJP stood in 2003 in Madhya Pradesh | N.D.Sharma

Published on 04-09-2008 In General

Viewed 1183 times

Now Cong. is where BJP stood in 2003 in Madhya Pradesh

The wheel has turned full circle in Madhya Pradesh in five years. Bijli (electricity), sadak (roads), paani (water), bungling in preparation of electoral rolls and, of course, corruption were the major issues against the ten-year Congress rule of Digvijay Singh five years ago. Now the Congress is tying to raise the same issues against the five-year government of the BJP.

But with a major difference. In 2003, the BJP campaign was set in motion by volatile orator Uma Bharati – and quite early. By September, Uma Bharati had traversed almost the entire State delivering her fiery speeches and Digvijay Singh had started showing signs of defeatism. The Congress campaign is still at the state of discussions at group meetings. Besides, it is short of leaders who can captivate the masses.

There is yet another difference. The BJP, as a party, had shown determination to throw off the Congress regime and once the choice of Uma Bharati to lead the campaign was made by the leadership, all State leaders cooperated with her, including her strident detractors like former chief minister Sunderlal Patwa. The BJP's central leaders were constantly lending a helping hand to the party in the State and its election campaign.

It's less than three months in the elections but the Congress is yet to turn itself into a party; it is still a conglomeration of individuals, about half a dozen of them at the top more worried about who would become the chief minister than how to first win the elections. When Digvijay Singh floated union commerce minister Kamal
Nath's name as the next (Congress) chief minister at the Chhindwara meeting of the State party leaders, it was like throwing a stone in seemingly calm waters. Union Minister of State and AICC General Secretary V.Narayanaswamy in-charge of Madhya Pradesh affairs had a hard time convincing the other aspirants that Digvijay Singh's saying so did not make Kamal Nath as the chief ministerial candidate and that the chief minister would be elected by the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) with the approval of party president Sonia Gandhi.

Why Digvijay Singh did it is a mystery. He mentioned in his speech that Kamal Nath had helped him become the chief minister in December 1993 and gave the impression as if he was trying to express his gratitude by projecting Kamal Nath as the next chief minister. Only ninnies can think that he did not anticipate the turmoil it was going to create in the party. Former PCC chief Subhash Yadav had also expressed himself in favour of Kamal Nath but Yadav is generally not taken seriously in the party. Digvijay Singh is AICC general secretary and considered close to Rahul Gandhi. Besides, the party men know Subhash Yadav stands nowhere near Digvijay Singh in mischief making. Hence the panic at his naming Kamal Nath as the next chief minister! Digvijay Singh's game was all the more intriguing because he had projected Ajay Singh (Rahul Bhaiya), son of Arjun Singh, as the next chief minister at a meeting of Congressmen at Tikamgarh some time back.

While it is not possible to penetrate Digvijay Singh's mind, a fair guess is that he is angling for chief ministership of the State once again.

For that it is necessary to demolish all the claimants well in time. His job will become easier if no party gets an absolute majority; he will then have the opportunity to offer his services to cobble up an alliance with the Congress in the lead. He has, though, been denying vehemently that he wants to become the chief minister again. But such denials mean nothing, at least in his case. In 1993, then an MP and PCC president, Digvijay Singh had similarly been denying on every conceivable occasion that he was in the race for chief ministership. His last denial came at Jhabua on December 1. Two days later he was in the forefront as the candidate for chief ministership when the CLP met in Bhopal to elect the CLP leader and he conveniently trounced Shyama Charan Shukla, by engineering (with the help of present Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh) a split in the supporters of Madhavrao Scindia. Arjun Singh played his own game to make Digvijay Singh's victory smooth.

Again, after the Congress was defeated in 2003, Digvijay Singh had publicly announced that he would not accept any position either in the government or in the party for ten years. A year had hardly passed when he became the AICC general secretary. It was said at the time that he had quietly lobbied for his rehabilitation through Arjun Singh, who had by that time become a minister at the Centre and was considered close to Sonia Gandhi.

Interestingly, the ruling BJP is no less worried than the opposition Congress, though for different reasons. While the Congress leaders are agitated over the next chief minister, the BJP's worry concerns the retention of power. The strong anti-incumbency factor is weighing heavily on the mind of the party leaders, the hundreds of
announcements made by chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan with a view to placating each and every section of society notwithstanding. Several strategic sessions have been held in this connection by the party leaders, often in the presence of central observers, M.Venkaiah Naidu and Ramlal.

This has led to a peculiar situation. Quite a number of BJP MLAs and some ministers are said to be in touch with the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party leaders. Obviously, they fear that they may not get re-elected in the name of the BJP. The ruling party leaders are, at the same time, trying to key out the constituencies where the people's anger is more pronounced, because of non-supply of power, drinking water problem, bad roads or for whatever reasons, and the chief minister is asked to pay special attention to these areas. The party leaders are also holding an exercise to identify the ministers or party MLAs who have become particularly unpopular in their constituencies. They are likely to be dropped. The number of such MLAs (including ministers) is being cited between 70 and 110.

Looking at the condition of the two main parties, one wonders if the other parties, such as SP, BSP, and Gondwana Ganatanta Party (GGP), are going to play more than a peripheral role after the elections.

0 Comments

Blog

Print