Amrish Hardenia
Tribune News ServiceBhopal, November 18
The Congress in Madhya Pradesh is plagued by a problem of plenty. It has at least five leaders aspiring to be the Chief Minister. That, in itself would not have been a problem but for the fact that the chief ministerial aspirants are spending more time and energy pulling each other’s legs than in taking on the ruling BJP. Lack of co-ordination in the party campaign is only one of the many fall-outs of the bitter rivalry.
PCC president Suresh Pachauri, union ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia and Kamalnath, state Congress campaign committee chief Rahul Singh and leader of opposition Jamuna Devi — all of them are sure that they deserve the top job more than anyone else. Digvijay Singh — who had led the Congress government for 10 years — says he is out of the race.
In contrast, there is no dispute in the BJP as to who will be the CM if the party returns to power. There is absolutely no challenge to Shivraj Singh Chauhan’s leadership.
The battle among the wannabe chief ministers had begun well before the elections were announced. Rahul Singh avoided sharing the platform with Pachauri and the latter returned the compliment. Their rivalry divided the party into two clearly identifiable factions.
While Pachauri, being the PCC chief, believes himself to be the “natural claimant” to the top post, Rahul Singh is banking on the support of his father, the ailing Congress veteran Arjun Singh.
Pachauri-his rivals point out-has not won a single election till date. The Rajya Sabha has been his sanctuary. He was in the Rajya Sabha for more than two decades.
As for the two other aspirants- Scindia and Kamalnath - they can definitely boast of a popular base. However, their influence does not extend over the entire state. Jamuna Devi’s claim is based on her being a tribal, a woman and the senior most party MLA (she was first elected to the assembly way back in 1952)
The party high command tried to control the infighting by announcing no one would be projected as the Chief Minister and that after the elections, the MLAs and Sonia Gandhi would choose the leader.
In another effort at putting up a united front, leaders belonging to different factions met at Chinndwara- the citadel of Kamalanth in August this year.
The bitterness among the Congress satraps has only increased since the polls were announced. Much to the chagrin of others, Pachauri succeeded in cornering the maximum number of nominations for his supporters. The discontent on the issue burst out into the open with Arjun Singh writing a protest letter to Sonia and with several leaders, who were denied tickets walking into other parties. A number of party leaders are in the fray as candidates of the BSP, the Bharatiya Janashakti and as independents.
It is apparent that question of who will be the Chief Minister will arise only if the Congress secures a majority-something that may elude it, thanks to the internal wrangling.
