Bhopal: “I have given you power of attorney and you will take all the abuses for Kamal Nath and that power of attorney is valid even today,” Congress state chief Kamal Nath said. His party colleague Digvijaya Singh had a quick repartee: “Bhai, whose signatures are there on Form A & B — the PCC president’s. Then whose clothes will be torn (for denying a poll ticket)?”
This banter between the two former chief ministers of Madhya Pradesh at Ravindra Bhawan Tuesday, where Congress leaders gathered to release the party’s manifesto, is being widely talked about in political circles.
The timing couldn’t be missed: a video clip had surfaced earlier in which Nath, the Congress state chief, is heard telling supporters of a disgruntled leader to tear Digvijaya’s kurta to get their demands met. The crowd is said to be supporters of two-term MLA Virendra Raghuvanshi who quit the BJP to join the Congress on 2 September but failed to get a poll ticket.
कांग्रेस पार्टी ने विधानसभा चुनाव 2023 के लिए आज अपना वचन पत्र जारी किया है। यह वचन पत्र मध्य प्रदेश की जनता के लिए खुशहाली और समृद्धि का संदेश है। हम किसानों को गेहूं का ₹2600 प्रति क्विंटल और धान का ₹2500 प्रति क्विंटल मूल्य देंगे और इसे बढ़ाकर ₹3000 प्रति क्विंटल तक ले… pic.twitter.com/fSPrlCuSBV
— Kamal Nath (@OfficeOfKNath) October 17, 2023
Before starting the press conference Tuesday, Kamal Nath stated, “I told (workers) if he (Digvijaya) does not listen to you, you should go and tear his clothes.” He added that his equation with Singh is not just political but it is also of making fun and of love.
Digvijaya in a quick response pointed out, “But it should be clear who is making these mistakes”. Nath insisted that even if it’s not his mistake, he has to take the blame. Digvijay politely pointed out: “It is Shankar ji’s task to drink poison so it will be done.”
Nath before moving on to the launch the manifesto pointed out: “Inhone mere liye bohot saare kadve ghoont piye hai, toh aage bhi peene padenge. (He had to bear many uncomfortable situations and keep facing them as well).”
The banter is also being seen in political circles as a counter to the ruling BJP, which has questioned the Congress ticket distribution after Raghuvanshi, the two-time sitting MLA from Pichhore in Shivpuri district,was not given a ticket.
Raghuvanshi was in for a rude shock on Sunday when his name did not feature amongst the 144 candidates given poll ticket.
Shivpuri district has three assembly segments — Pichhore, Kolaras, and Shivpuri.
K.P. Singh — the six-time MLA from Pichhore — has been fielded from Shivpuri to counter BJP sports minister Yashodhara Raje Scindia. The Congress also fielded Jyotiraditya Scindia’s loyalist Bajnath Yadav from Kolaras and Shailendra Singh from Pichore.
On Monday, Raghuvanshi’s supporters gheraoed Kamal Nath’s bungalow urging him to revisit the decision.
In a video which has since gone viral from the meeting, Kamal Nath in a bid to pacify the Raghuvanshi’s supporters is purportedly heard saying: “I had inducted Virendra. It was my wish and it is still my wish, then why have you come? I want him more than you do. But I had left this decision up to Digvijaya and Jaivardhan Singh, and there was some misunderstanding.”
Nath further goes on to state that he had summoned K.P. Singh and Digvijaya to Delhi.
But soon after the meeting, the video shows Nath addressing Raghuvanshi’s supporters in which he purportedly tells them to tear the kurta of Digvijaya and his son Jaivardhan.
The BJP had claimed that Kamal Nath had no clue of ticket distributions. “Anyone can create confusion and distribute the tickets. This has brought to fore the truth of the Congress’ claim of conducting surveys to distribute tickets,” BJP spokesperson Narendra Saluja tweeted Tuesday.
Also Read: Congress’s 1st list for MP polls: Hanuman actor, inducted by ‘bhakt Kamal Nath’, to take on Shivraj
Two veterans ‘never at cross purposes’
Explaining the situation, a senior Congress leader explained how the choice of candidates was arrived at. “It was decided that K.P. Singh would be fielded to ensure Yashodhara Raje Scindia’s defeat, but as she decided not to contest and Jyotiraditya Scindia’s candidature remained to be announced, the decision of fielding Singh was left up to Digvijaya and Jaivardhan Singh. The duo is also entrusted with taking a call on the candidatures of five districts of Gwalior-Chambal region,” the Congress leader told ThePrint.
Political commentator Rasheed Kidwai, who has observed MP politics for over three decades, explained the dynamics of the Congress veterans.
“Digvijaya Singh and Kamal Nath are two powerful yet independent personalities, but never at cross purposes with each other. Digvijaya is Kamal Nath by another name is in addition of everything,” he pointed out.
Kidwai further pointed out that CM Digvijaya, when there were 48 districts in the state, had famously stated that he was the chief minister of only 47 districts — pointing out that he does not control the decision in Kamal Nath’s bastion Chhindwara.
In the 1993 state election, Digvijaya with backing from Kamal Nath emerged as a black horse and became the CM despite several other senior leaders waiting in line. Congress veteran Arjun Singh backed former Lok Sabha MP Subhas Yadav and then prime minister P.V. Narsimha Rao had a soft corner for former chief minister Shyama Charan Shukla, a senior leader from Congress said.
It is believed that Digvijaya maintains a sense of gratitude towards Kamal Nath for supporting him. Similarly, in 1995 when veteran leaders Arjun Singh and N.D. Tiwari formed their own faction, it was with support from Kamal Nath that Digvijaya’s government remained unaffected.
In the more recent times, it is believed that while Rahul Gandhi wanted a new crop of leaders in MP and support Jyotiraditya Scindia, when it came to getting supporters of MLAs, Digvijaya Singh and Kamal Nath remained on the same page ensuring that the majority remained with them.
In 2018, Jaivardhan was made a cabinet minister in the Kamal Nath-led Congress government in Madhya Pradesh. Nath, however, resigned in March 2020 ahead of a trust vote following the resignation of 22 Congress MLAs.
(Edited by Tony Rai)