Bhopal: Eight months after she resigned from the post of sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) of Madhya Pradesh’s Chhatarpur district, hoping to contest the state assembly elections, Nisha Bangre is facing disappointment on every front.
She fought with the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government in court to get her resignation accepted, but failed to get a poll ticket from the Congress “as was promised”.
She was later accommodated as a “mahamantri” in the state Congress unit — only to lose the post after new party president Jitu Patwari took over.
“Anyay toh Congress aur BJP dono ne kiya hai. Ab Congress se toh nyay ki umeed nahin hai, par agar BJP nyay karna chahe toh service mein wapas le sakti hai (both the Congress and BJP have done injustice. I don’t hope to get justice from the Congress now, but if the BJP wants, it can take me back in service),” she told ThePrint Sunday.
Talking about her Lok Sabha poll prospects, she added: “Before the assembly elections, I was assured by then (Congress) state in-charge Randeep Surjewalaji that I will be considered for the Lok Sabha polls from SC reserved seats such as Tikamgarh or Bhind. But as the election is nearing, there has been no communication of any possible candidature from these seats from the party.”
“And now, Surjewalaji has been replaced by Bhanwar Jitendra Singh as state in-charge,” rued Bangre, who is these days helping civil service aspirants crack the competitive exam.
A 2017-batch state civil service officer, Bangre had managed to get her resignation accepted by the Chouhan government last October, after a four-month battle and just ahead of the November state elections.
Also Read: Give ‘direct support’ to me — Modi tells MP voters even as he praises CM Chouhan
Bangre’s battle
According to Bangre, it was in 2022 that she was first contacted by the office of senior Congress leader Kamal Nath, who was then serving as the Madhya Pradesh Congress chief, to discuss her possible candidature from Betul district’s Amla seat — where Bangre was posted as sub-divisional magistrate in 2018.
She said that soon after discussions started, the Madhya Pradesh government transferred her from Bhopal to Chhatarpur district in November 2022.
While it was easier to make the four-hour trip to Betul from Bhopal, Bangre said, the new posting in Chhatarpur increased the travel time to over 10 hours.
Five months before the state assembly elections scheduled for November 2023, Bangre resigned from her post, on 22 June, reportedly stating that she was denied permission to attend an event, the International All Religion Peace Conference.
With no clarity over the acceptance of her resignation from the state’s generation administration department, Bangre approached the Madhya Pradesh High Court, which gave the state government a month’s time to decide on the matter.
Advocate Vivek Tankha, who was then representing Bangre, had told The Print: “The government is not accepting her resignation citing a pending departmental inquiry about the fact that Nisha, while on childcare leave, sought permission to attend an all-religion programme at her house, violating the code of conduct governing state officials.”
Tankha had pleaded that “we accept the charges, and that the government should accept the resignation”.
On 28 September, she set out on a ‘padyatra‘ from Amla to the chief minister’s house in Bhopal to push for her case. She was, however, stopped and arrested and released the following morning after spending a night in jail.
After the state failed to accept her resignation even 30 days later, Bangre moved the court once again, which gave the state government another 10 days to complete the pending departmental inquiry and accept Bangre’s resignation.
As the high court allowed the state government to complete the inquiry, Bangre moved the Supreme Court, which asked her to plead before the high court with an application citing the reason for her urgency.
The Congress, despite announcing candidates for 229 of the 230 assembly seats, had so far held back on declaring the candidate for Amla seat.
On 20 October last year, the Chouhan government informed the court that it would decide on Bangre’s resignation by Monday (23 October).
On 23 October, as Bangre was awaiting communication about her resignation being accepted, the Congress declared Manoj Malve as its candidate from Amla. Malve had been the Congress candidate from the seat in 2018 too, but had lost to BJP’s Yogesh Pandagre by around 20,000 votes.
An agitated Bangre told the media that she would contest the assembly elections irrespective of the party. She, however, chose otherwise.
Kamal Nath had then referred to Bangre during a rally in Chhindwara and stated: “You will become an example. No problem that you are not contesting the polls. But I need your services in Madhya Pradesh.”
Subsequently, Bangre was made a mahamantri in the party and also included among its star campaigners. But even that was short-lived.
A month later, as the Congress lost the assembly elections and was reduced to 66 seats, Kamal Nath made way for Jitu Patwari as new state unit chief.
Soon after taking over, Patwari dissolved all previous appointments of party functionaries in the state. New members are yet to be appointed.
Bangre told ThePrint that she has once again been assured that she will be given a prominent position, once the office-bearers are decided.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)