Chhattisgarh Congress looks for an identity other than ‘BJP B team’

Last month,newly appointed PCC chief Nand Kumar Patel said,“It’s not proper that Congressmen meet Raman Singh and other BJP ministers in the dark of night,secretly.” And on November 9,in the presence of Union Minister Jairam Ramesh at a party meeting in Raipur,Patel said,“He is the first Central minister not to have praised the state government.”

Doshi and Patel are the first Congressmen to acknowledge in public what is a popular perception: that top party leaders are being “managed” by BJP. And Patel’s remark underlined another perception: that the Congress high command is either indifferent to or ignorant of the party being a nonentity in Chhattisgarh. Few senior leaders have visited the state over the last decade; even Rahul Gandhi’s much-publicised scheduled visit was cancelled.

Second fiddle

The Congress has strength in terms of vote shares and membership but the public view is that it has ceded ground to the BJP. Since it lost in 2003 and till recently,the Congress had raised no major issue in the Assembly and hardly staged any dharnas or rallies. When the controversial Chhattisgarh Public Safety Act was tabled,Congress raised not a question. So silent has the party been that former Leader of Opposition Mahendra Karma was openly termed as “the 13th minister of Raman Singh” who “reads out speeches handed over by BJP men”.

Of late,the Congress has begun targeting the government. Karma has held a press conference accusing the government of selling natural resources. The AICC recently formed a committee to check irregularities in implementation of Central schemes. And partymen have submitted a memorandum to the Governor on the issue of Home Minister Nanki Ram Kanwar’s son buying tribal land for Videocon. And a party that did not target the home minister after last year’s Naxal attack,which killed 76 CRPF jawans,was quick to demand Health Minister Amar Agarwal’s resignation after several people lost an eye in cataract operation camps. Congressmen have also been visiting Balod,issuing statements targeting the government at every opportunity.

The AICC has formed a disciplinary committee to check members being “managed” by the government. Patel has also formed a PCC working committee,the first in eight years; the two who preceded him,Charan Das Mahant and Dhanendra Sahu,had failed to do so. When the panel held its first meeting on November 4,some Congressmen could not remember the last such one. Patel has also appointed 11 district presidents,while a media cell and other new groups are in place.

Bastar

After the Bastar bypoll,charges were made that inner rivalries ensured the Congress defeat. Doshi wrote,“Can these leaders not read the writing so clearly on the wall or do they not want to read?” Bastar dealt heavy blows to the Congress in the last two Assembly polls a\nd was key to its defeat. There were allegations of rigging and Congress leader Mohammad Akbar has now proposed GPS in Bastar’s booths. Partymen plan to camp in the region,part of a plan to conquer it.

Factionalism

Senior leaders including Ajit Jogi admits the party has lost several seats due to factionalism,and that remains the biggest challenge. The Delhi leadership could not,for instance,find a Rajya Sabha candidate from the state for lack of unanimity among local leaders and had to foist an outsider,Mohsina Kidwai.

Of the two camps,AJ (Ajit Jogi) and ABJ (anyone but Jogi),the latter seems to be moving around Patel of late. Yet,Patel has been visiting Jogi,who seems to welcome this despite his CM dreams. “He is working well… If we group together we can easily win the next elections,” says Jogi.

Patel too faces rivals. When Ramesh visited the PCC office with him and held a press conference at his home,no leaders except a few local MLAs were present.

“We will fight till seat distribution… we owe it to our voters and supporters. But once seats are finalised,we will contest polls as a unified front,” Jogi says.