All the former CM’s men

Swami Lodhi now regrets his curse that the worst misfortune befall this government. ‘‘I will never say this again,’’ he said, adding it is ‘‘a mere coincidence the way events turned out Monday…Something good has come out of this. She is now in the line for PM, state politics is over for her. She will now fight Sonia directly. I’ll accompany her wherever she goes.’’

Gurumurthy is more reticent. He believes he may work with new CM Babulal Gaur provided he has the time. ‘‘I never had a role except that of advising corporations and governments when they came to me. We had proposed a model for employment regeneration by recognising and certifying empirical skills, training and formation of guilds among others.’’

Govindacharya has typically vanished from the scene once Uma gave in her resignation. While the expelled ideologue lived in the CM’s residence whenever he was in town (‘‘He has no other place,’’ Bharati had said), Govindacharya was spotted in Indore with Bharati a day before she resigned.

Dave, merely shrugs when he says, ‘‘I was appointed by the party organisation to the post, now it depends what they have in store for me in the new government.’’

Bharati’s nephews, Sidharth and Rahul, have always lived with her and are now on the train with her. Both have made themselves known in Bada Malehra, Bharati’s Assembly constituency and see it as their political home. Atul Jain is already in Bangalore, working with legal experts on Bharati’s case and imminent arrest and will follow up on her Tiranga Rally.

The only lieutenant to be left behind in Bhopal would be Shailesh Sharma. Recently appointed chairman of the executive committee of the Employment Generation Board by Uma, he might soon find himself without a job. ‘‘We have already done a lot of work in mapping human, skill and local resources for economic regeneration. I will do what the party says. I will continue with my work in the organisation,’’ he said.