No Jogi men to receive him, Digvijay turns to Shukla

Singh is a staunch devotee of Ma Bamleshwari and visits the Dongargarh temple once a year during Navratri. And Singh, who is used to seeing officials and supporters waiting for him before he arrived at the airport, was in for a surprise yesterday. When he got out of his official plane, Singh saw that there was only one minister, Satyanarain Sharma, waiting for him. Sharma was a minister when Singh was chief minister of the undivided Madhya Pradesh. Barring some officials like the IG, Raipur, the District Collector and the SSP, none of Jogi’s ministers turned up to receive Singh as protocol demanded. No minister was deputed to receive or accompany him.

Singh surprised everyone when instead of using the government helicopter, he decided to meet Shyama Charan Shukla, Jogi’s detractor, before he proceeded to Dongargarh. After he had a closed-door meeting with Shukla at his residence, Singh drove to Dongargarh by road. Shukla refused to divulge details of the meeting, saying it was ‘‘personal’’.

District Collector C.K. Khaitan said a ‘‘helicopter was ready to take Singh to Dongargarh but aviation officials did not allow it to fly for technical reasons as it was nearing sunset. Landing at Dongargarh could have been a problem.’’