A house divided, falls defeated

Towards the end of August, the Congress in Madhya Pradesh organised what it referred to as a 8216;unity show8217; in Chhindwara.

Towards the end of August, the Congress in Madhya Pradesh organised what it referred to as a 8216;unity show8217; in Chhindwara. The party leadership had hoped that this symbolic demonstration of solidarity would better its disastrous showing in 2003, when it was reduced to 38 seats in the house of 230. But symbols can go only so far, and the Congress in the state remains a house divided. In fact, the 8216;unity show8217; was probably the only time party stalwarts shared a common platform in the recent past.

Once the elections were notified, the leaders of different factions 8212; and there are several 8212; went back to seek tickets for their supporters in what loosely qualifies as the 8216;quota system8217; of the oldest national party.

From Commerce Minister Kamal Nath to IT Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia to MPCC president Suresh Pachauri to HRD Minister Arjun Singh and his son Ajay Singh, and former chief minister Digvijay Singh, all got tickets for their followers. Having wangled tickets for their followers after a lot of hard work in Delhi, they went back to their respective turfs to campaign for their nominees.

The party never spoke in one voice and the campaign was clearly fragmented along the lines of different factions. The Congress failed to challenge the ruling BJP as a united body. There was Nath whose aggressive campaign, concentrated mainly in Chhindwara and nearby districts, saw his supporters calling the election a battle between Kamal and Kamal the lotus is the BJP8217;s symbol.

Meanwhile, Arjun Singh8217;s son, Ajay, who despite being campaign committee chairman, was stuck in Sidhi district taking care of his own Churhat constituency. Incidentally, he was the only candidate from the possible contenders for the CM8217;s throne. Since the party had not projected anyone as CM, it was left to the regional satraps to covertly let their supporters pitch for them when they campaigned from door to door.

The show of unity had shown gaping cracks when former Congress chief Subhash Yadav openly projected Nath, with Digvijay Singh seconding him. Yadav, who was unceremoniously replaced by Pachauri, had a score to settle and so had Nath and Digvijay Singh, who never really accepted Pachauri. Yadav was among the Congress leaders who lost on Monday.

The party8217;s NSUI chief Rashmi Pawar and Youth Congress chief Jitu Patwari, too, lost. The Congress8217;s women8217;s wing chief, Shobha Ojha also lost from Indore. A couple of days before counting, the party had expelled Pankaj Sanghvi, an Arjun Singh supporter, for working against Ojha.

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Even in defeat, Congress leaders were not united. Pachauri offered to resign, saying he took responsibility for the loss, while Nath blamed it on a lack of coordination among workers and district-level leaders. Senior leaders accepted on television that factionalism has always been a bane of the oldest national party and they were not really surprised by what happened in MP.