Not strategy, ticket tiff keeps Cong busy in MP

Before thinking of a poll strategy in Madhya Pradesh, the Congress has to deal with the multi-cornered contest within the party for an upper...

Before thinking of a poll strategy in Madhya Pradesh, the Congress has to deal with the multi-cornered contest within the party for an upper hand in ticket distribution. Senior partymen wanting to ‘‘nurture’’ their constituencies are pushing the cases of loyalists.

In this tug-of-war, the party has been able to decide 79 of the 230 seats in the state, going back on the plan of announcing all the seats by the month-end. The rest of the 150 seats are to be thrashed out among the ‘‘satraps’’ of Madhya Pradesh, who always staked claim over parts of the state. It would be a tough job for the screening committee headed by G. Venkataswamy when the final recommendations come from each leader.

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The tickets would be decided by ‘‘consensus’’ among leaders including Chief Minister Digvijay Singh, Arjun Singh, Kamal Nath, Srinivas Tewari, Jyotiraditya Scindia, deputy Chief Ministers Subhash Yadav and Jamuna Devi. Apart from these, senior leaders like Suresh Pachouri and Satyavrat Chaturvedi would also have to be consulted.

The case of Madhya Pradesh, unlike Rajasthan, seems to be that of too many cooks. In Rajasthan, for even seats of sitting Congress MLAs who are now senior ministers, there are 15 to 20 aspirants, but leaders pushing them are fewer. Whereas in Madhya Pradesh, in the remaining 150 seats, while there are not more than three to four aspirants, leaders backing candidates are too many.

It is also felt that with fewer Congressmen ‘‘denied’’ a ticket the rebel factor would be less in Madhya Pradesh. The strategy would be to reap the anti-incumbency in traditional BJP seats and at the same time maintain the winning trend in Congress seats, which could be an uphill task.

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