Bruised by poll loss, Congress on the ropes in Madhya Pradesh, BJP looks to go in for the kill

Not just Annu. With just a few months to go before the Lok Sabha elections, a string of leaders have begun deserting the party. Annu was a confidant of senior MP Vivek Tankha who belongs to former Chief Minister Kamal Nath’s camp. He quit the party on February 7 with more than 50 party leaders from the Mahakaushal region. There, the Congress party has a considerable presence compared to the other regions of the state, where the BJP has set up formidable strongholds. On February 8, former state advocate general Shashank Shekhar joined the BJP. He is also considered close to Tankha and is from Mahakaushal.

They are not alone. Guna leader Sumer Singh, a loyalist of former CM Digvijaya Singh, left the party to join the BJP on February 7. Both Singh and Annu said the senior leadership’s decision to skip the Ram Mandir consecration ceremony was a reason for their departure. A few days ago, Congress leader Ekta Thakur, who was its candidate from Mahakaushal’s Sihora seat, joined the BJP, while last month former Morena MLA and Jyotiraditya Scindia loyalist Rakesh Mavai switched to the BJP.

This exodus of leaders underscores the extent of the challenge before the new state Congress president Jitu Patwari. While he grapples with disgruntled senior leaders who fear being replaced by the next generation and youth leaders who seek greener pastures in the BJP, the party faces an uphill battle of stopping the BJP from sweeping all 29 Lok Sabha seats in the state. The ruling party has placed special emphasis on Mahakaushal, where former CM Kamal Nath’s family bastion Chhindwara is located. It was the only parliamentary seat the Congress holds at present.

The departures have dented the morale in the Congress, especially that of youth leaders and grassroots workers and beneath the surface there is still simmering anger against the state leadership over ticket distribution that many believe cost the party the elections. A sense of despondence has seeped in among youth leaders who believe it will be difficult to counter “Modi guarantees” and the party’s Ram Mandir narrative.

“We have already been damaged and our organisation cannot be broken down any more. I think for the smaller parties it will be a battle of existence. We will still exist even with 50,000 members across the country,” said a Congress youth leader in the state.

The BJP play

BJP insiders told The Indian Express that the party had been trying to break away many senior leaders from the Congress, especially in regions where it believes it does not have the strength to destroy the Opposition party’s confidence. The ruling party has opened its back channels and is in touch with several Congress leaders lobbying to find respectable positions in the state BJP if they leave the Congress.

State BJP secretary Rajneesh Aggarwal told The Indian Express, “If the Congress leaders want to walk on our ideology and follow PM Modi’s leadership then what is the problem? We will not compromise on our ideology. They are free to join us.”

With the BJP moving ahead with its strategy of tying the Ram Mandir issue to the election, Congress leaders say the central leadership miscalculated. “In the Assembly elections, the BJP kept taunting Rahul that they had announced the date. They kept saying we won’t go. Now, what they said turned out to be true. Our leaders refused to go and this was a major miscalculation. Look at the atmosphere now. People celebrated the event like Diwali. We cannot defend not going to the event. This will damage us,” said a Congress leader.

State Congress vice president J P Dhanopia told The Indian Express, “We never said no to the Ram Mandir event. The BJP-RSS captured the entire event and dominated it. We said no to that. The leaders who have left were greedy and expected action to be taken against them. But the BJP will be filled to the brim with these turncoat leaders and they won’t have respectable positions. What will they do there? We are trying our best to stop the leaders. But if they want to leave, let them leave.”

About the defections, a senior Youth Congress leader said, “Most of the leaders who left quit for other reasons other than Ram Mandir. Annu left because the Jabalpur Corporation’s finances are very shaky. He can be removed anytime. He joined the BJP to ensure he stays relevant. The BJP is targeting our leadership in areas they consider themselves weak, where they expect the victory margin may be less than one lakh. They are trying to destroy the youth leadership’s confidence. They have damaged us. But we have begun damage control operations.”

BJP’s Rajneesh Aggarwal said Ram Mandir was not the only issue on which the Congress miscalculated. “From Rahul Gandhi to Jitu Patwari, they are all disconnected from real issues and people. There is no ideology, work ethic or vision. Once their leaders realise that the public is not with them, they will leave the party,” he said.