Protests, absentees and some tears – first meeting under new Congress chief in Madhya Pradesh is talk of town

On Thursday, as senior members of the PAC turned up for the first meeting, protests erupted outside the state Congress office, including by leaders from Betul district who were upset over the exclusion of senior leaders from the executive committee.

However, it was missing senior leaders like former chief ministers Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh, leader of opposition Umang Singhar, and other members such as Ajay Singh, Arun Yadav, and Kamleshwar Patel that were particularly noticeable.

All India Congress Committee in-charge of Assam and MP Jitendra Singh brushed off their absence and said, “Some leaders had prior engagements. You know this is marriage season and these leaders personally messaged me that they had some personal engagements and had to attend wedding functions. They had put forward their suggestions, which were discussed in the meeting.”

Former Congress minister Sajjan Singh Verma said Patwari grew emotional during the meeting while asking senior leaders for their guidance. “The first meeting Patwari held – all senior leaders attended as the date was announced well in advance. This time, the meeting was announced at short notice. Patwari became emotional after the PAC meeting. During a meeting with the special invitees, he said I am nothing alone, if I don’t get your guidance it will be difficult for me to go forward. He was made the president in very tough circumstances… his eyes welled up when he asked for the support of the senior leaders present in the meeting,” Verma said.

Congress spokesperson Mukesh Nayak said, “Patwari was remembering his struggle… when he grew emotional. He did not grow emotional over any missing leaders. Many leaders from across the state turned up”.

Latching into Verma’s statements, the BJP said this was a sign of helplessness in the grand old party. BJP spokesperson Ashish Aggarwal said, “These are tears of the Congress party, not of Jitu Patwari. It is an expression of helplessness that he feels constantly. None of the senior leaders spared any effort to teach him a lesson.”

BJP spokesperson Narendra Saluja said, “Jitu Patwari extended every courtesy to his senior leaders, but they still chose to boycott the meeting. This reflects the dissatisfaction within Congress with his leadership.”

Senior Congress leaders said that the absence of senior leaders was a sign that factionalism was out in the open. “If they could have joined virtually, we could have done damage control,” said one leader.

Another leader took the example of the leader of opposition Umang Singhar’s absence. “Recently Ajay Singh Rahul aired his anger in the open and he was expected to skip. But Singhar was in Bhopal and did not turn up. He wanted a 50-50 partnership in the organisation but Patwari asked him to concentrate on the assembly and leave party affairs to him,” said a senior leader.