Shukla may be next to quit Congress

Senior Congressmen have also sensed that Kesri is in no position to dictate terms to Digvijay. His emissary Tariq Anwar can at best cajole Digvijay into accepting a “balanced” list but those “imposed” by the high command are unlikely to receive the Chief Minister’s charity.

V.C. Shukla, who is a veteran of many a battle where he eventually ended up in the winning camp after starting out on some other side, has already started sending feelers to the BJP and the Samata Party as his ticket from Raipur appears in doubt. It is is being opposed not only by Digvijay but also Arjun Singh, Scindia and Kamalnath, owing to factional rivalries. He himself would like to contest either from Mahasamund or Rajnandgaon but is unlikely to be obliged by Kesri.

BJP insiders also point towards the fact that Parasram Bhardwaj, who as PCC president had an icy cold relationship with Digvijay is now being needled out of his Sarangarh seat. Bhardwaj lost the election narrowly last time but with a buoyant BJP it appears a more difficult task now. Being a Shukla camp follower, he may also follow the leader into the BJP.

The only problem in admitting the two errant Congressmen into the BJP is that they bring with them a baggage of hawala allegations, corruption charges and even the ghost of Emergency. Never mind, say well-placed sources — Shukla will be admitted clandestinely via Fernandes’ Samata which has absolutely no presence in the State.

Thus Shukla might yet win the Mahasamund seat on a Samata ticket, backed by the BJP which may oblige by not putting up a candidate. And then as the post-election drama unfolds in Delhi, he will be doing what he knows best — fixing MPs. This time for the BJP.