In electoral race from here after 3 decades, Digvijaya hopes his former turf will carry him past finish line

Challenging the BJP’s allegations, Digvijaya said: “I am ready to even contest against Narendra Modi or Shivraj Singh Chouhan (former Madhya Pradesh CM who has been fielded by the BJP for the Lok Sabha polls). But the party has asked me to contest from here (Rajgarh), so I will fight from here.”

While Digvijaya has himself been out of electoral politics in the state since his CM spell from 1993 to 2003, he has always been a prime target for the BJP, including in the recent Assembly elections. The reason is the veteran’s hold on the Congress unit in the state, which he has covered across its length and breadth on foot as part of his several yatras.

The history of the Raigarh seat in Madhya Pradesh (Express graphic)

Digvijaya has also never shied away from taking the BJP head-on over Hindutva and other controversial issues, even if treading on own leadership’s toes at times.

During the recent Assembly elections, the Congress delegated Digvijaya the responsibility for 66 Assembly seats where the party was weak. And, to be fair, the Congress looked very much in the race – till it lost.

Digvijaya’s supporters have since been claiming that he didn’t get the backing in terms of resources that he needed, with rival-turned-comrade Kamal Nath running the elections as a “one-man show”.

However, as he enters the poll ring himself from Rajgarh this time, Digvijaya will not have any of these fig leaves. He knows the constituency well, having begun his political journey from here when he was elected president of the Raghogarh Nagar Palika (a municipal committee) in 1969 at the age of 22. By the time his term ended in 1971, he had found his political footing and soon began his stint with the Congress.

In 1977, the post-Emergency election when the Congress was wiped out across the country, Digvijay won from the Raghogarh Assembly constituency – a family seat won by his father, Balbhadra Singh, the titular king of Raghogarh, in the very first general elections of 1951-52. He would go on to win Ragogarh twice more – in 1998 and 2003.

In 1984, Digvijaya entered the Lok Sabha as an MP from Rajgarh. However, in 1989, Digvijaya lost from Rajgarh to the BJP’s Pyarelal Khandelwal by 67,424 votes – the BJP was part of the Janata Dal coalition led by V P Singh that defeated the Congress at the Centre in the 1989 polls.

With the Janata Dal coalition government soon collapsing, Digvijaya won the seat back in the 1991 Lok Sabha elections. When he returned back to state politics for a 10-year stint as CM, he passed on the reins of Rajgarh to brother Laxman Singh, who won the seat the next five times for the Congress.

After the Digvijaya government lost power in 2003, he took a pledge not to contest elections for the next 10 years. He has been a Rajya Sabha MP since 2014. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, he contested from Bhopal but lost to BJP candidate Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur by over 3.6 lakh votes.

Meanwhile, Rajgarh has been slipping away from the Congress, even as Laxman Singh’s own loyalties have swung between the party and BJP. In the last two polls, 2014 and 2019, the constituency was won by the BJP’s MP Rodmal Nagar (63).

An RSS product seen as close to ex-CM Chouhan, Nagar first got the ticket in 2014 and then retained it in 2019 despite local BJP opposition. BJP insiders say his victories were both the result of the Modi wave and RSS support for him. In 2019, Nagar won against Congress candidate Mona Sustani by 4.31 lakh votes (a vote share of 65.37%).

The 2023 Assembly elections too did not go the Congress’s way in Rajgarh. Of the eight Assembly segments falling under the Rajgarh Lok Sabha constituency – Chachoura, Raghogarh, Narsinghgarh, Biaora, Rajgarh, Khilchipur, Sarangpur (SC) and Susner – the Congress only won Raghogarh, where Digvijaya’s son and heir Jaivardhan was the candidate.

Digvijaya has been on the ground since January in his former turf, to bolster the organisation ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. His confidants say he has been attending conferences of workers at mandal, sector and block levels, as well as separately holding meetings of workers belonging to SC/ST communities.

On Friday, he was at a workers’ conference organised by the Rajgarh District Congress Committee in Chachoura, with participants from Narsinghgarh, Biaora, Rajgarh, Khilchipur and Sarangpur Assembly segments. On Saturday, he visited the Hanuman temple at Biaora in Rajgarh district, and met godman Abhiramdas Tyagi Maharaj of the Ramanandi sect. Digvijaya and Jaivardhan later addressed a workers’ meeting at Biaora.

A senior Congress leader said that, at these meetings, Digvijaya has been hearing out the workers on “their experience of the Assembly elections”. “They are still sticking to the version that the picture was different during their door-to-door campaigns compared to the final results (where the Congress lost badly). Digvijaya notes down their suggestions on how to strengthen the organisation.”

He has also held his first press conference ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. This was the day after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) over the now-scrapped excise policy case of his government.

Attacking the Modi government, Digvijaya said the main fault of leaders such as Kejriwal and (JMM leader and former Jharkhand CM) Hemant Soren was that they were fighting against the BJP under the INDIA bloc banner.

“People compare the Emergency of the 1970s, with what is happening now. That Emergency was imposed under an Act, which means under a law. But the ’emergency’ now is unconstitutional, happening through the ED, CBI and Income Tax Department,” he said.

Digvijaya also maintained his claims against EVMs, warning that “the day those involved in foul play (with the electronic voting machines) are caught, they will be hanged for treason”.