Digvijay not done with poll bounty

The minority agenda was a package of educational sops — scholarships for students in Classes 9 to 12 from BPL minority families, a fund-a-madarsa scheme, hostels, scholarships and stipends for minority students getting through the state or Central public service on par with OBC students. But to keep his Hindu credentials clear, on August 11, Digvijay announced the cow the state animal. And for good measure, took a dip at Nashik Simhastha on August 22.

Having already done enough over the past few years to be sure of a good percentage of the Dalit vote, he launched his initiative to wrest some of the OBC votebank from the BJP. On August 4, the Cabinet approved a Bill for raising reservation for OBCs from 14 to 27 per cent. On August 21, orders were issued for relaxing a ban on direct recruitment to fill some of these posts. And to ensure that the SC/ST votebank did not feel miffed, a special recruitment drive to fill the backlog of SC/ST posts was extended till September 30. If the BJP through the RSS has cadre right down to village-level, Digvijay has his panchayati raj. On I-Day, public assets worth Rs 10,000 crore were transferred to gram sabhas.

It was not as if the Election Commission is unaware of Digvijay’s aims, but so far CEC J.M. Lyngdoh’s straight approach is no match for the Raja’s guile. On August 11, the notification for three new districts was duly issued. Despite EC’s suggestion to the contrary, Digvijay after dashing off a polite letter to Delhi, went ahead and did what he wanted.

There was also the issue of industry. On August 19, a rehabilitation package for “small sick industries” was announced. Among a host of concessions, it includes exemption from power cuts, suspension of power duties and waiving of minimum fee by MPSEB for the period of closure.

And hoping to pick up seats in Bundelkhand, on August 8, the Cabinet decided a college would be established at Sagar, and named Bundelkhand Anchal Medical College. To ensure the CM’s own fortunes, the Cabinet on August 4 sanctioned a University of Higher Education in Engineering and Technology in Digvijay’s constituency of Raghogarh.

As August ended with the announcement on 31st that MP would celebrate the 400th anniversary of the Granth Sahib, September began with the announcement that OBC students would get post-matriculation scholarships. With some days to go before Lyngdoh’s word becomes the law, Digvijay doesn’t look like he’s done yet.