3 min readBhopalDec 18, 2023 02:17 AM IST
First published on: Dec 17, 2023 at 02:07 PM IST
The Congress Legislature Party (CLP) huddled in Bhopal on December 5 to introspect on the party’s humiliating loss in Madhya Pradesh. Notwithstanding the Congress’s loss, as well as his defeat from Rau, former minister Jitu Patwari emerged silently from the meeting.
He barely spoke a word with the waiting media persons and instead hugged his supporters and silently walked towards his car. While his party colleagues blamed EVMs for the loss, he chose to remain silent. Almost two weeks later, on Saturday Patwari was named the Madhya Pradesh Congress chief, replacing Kamal Nath.
Patwari in his new role will face the arduous task of rebuilding the party following the drubbing that the Congress received at the hands of the BJP.
The 50-year-old Patwari, who lost the election to the BJP’s Madhu Verma by more than 35,000 votes, has been elevated to the top post and is expected to induct fresh faces in the party’s organisational structure. He left behind other contenders to the post as he comes from the OBC community in the Malwa Nimar region — the same region Chief Minister Mohan Yadav belongs to. The region, with 66 seats, is considered to be the bellwether region of the state.
Born in Bijalpur, a small town near Indore, in a family of freedom fighters, Patwari completed his BA and LLB degrees from Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya in Indore. He then began his political career with the Congress, gradually rising through the ranks. In 2013, he was elected as an MLA from Rau for the first time, a seat which he retained in the 2018 elections. He has also served as the working president of the state Congress and president of the state Youth Congress. He was also a national media panellist for the party.
Patwari’s aides within the party describe him as a fitness enthusiast who works out regularly. “He also helped build akharas during his stint as MLA after local wrestlers demanded a gym,” the leader said. During campaigning, Patwari was often seen taking bicycle rides in his constituency in the morning and was seen preparing food – poori – for people.
Known to be a firebrand leader and his aggressive speeches, the former MLA participated in the 2017 protests against the killing of five farmers, allegedly by the police, in Mandsaur. He is known to be close to Rahul Gandhi with whom he rode a bike as the former Congress president tried to reach Mandsaur at the time. He was also seen with Rahul on multiple occasions during the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
The highest point in Patwari’s career came when he was made a minister in the Kamal Nath government and was given key portfolios such as higher education, and sports and youth affairs. During Jyotiraditya Scindia’s rebellion in 2020 that led to the fall of the Congress government, the former legislator was tasked with convincing rebel leaders to return to the party fold. Patwari even got into a scuffle with a policeman as he tried to meet the rebel MLAs, who were lodged at a resort in Bengaluru.
MP Congress president Jitu Patwari with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi, Sunday. They discussed the way forward for the party in the state for Lok Sabha polls. (PTI) 
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