In a rare show of unity, the clashing Congress stalwarts in the Gwalior-Chambal region of Madhya Pradesh have come together to express unity and strength, after a gap of 25 years.
The ‘unity show’ comes at a time when top state Congress leaders were accused of promoting factionalism and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi was reportedly unhappy with the brazen ambitions of the state leaders.
The faction-ridden Congress leaders of the state assembled at Lahar tehsil of Bhind district at a 'Kisan Evam Yuva Kranti Sammelan' organised by MLA Govind Singh. Senior party leaders including Kamal Nath, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Digvijay Singh, PCC chief Arun Yadav, opposition leader Ajay Singh, AICC legal cell chief Vivek Tanka and former union minister Suresh Pachauri reiterated their commitment to fight for the farmers of the state at the gathering. They also vowed to dislodge the state BJP government.
A similar show of strength and unity happened more than two decades ago in 1992 when the Congress was out of power. Shortly after, the party catapulted back to power in the 1993 assembly polls. The unity rally was then attended by Arjun Singh, Madhavrao Scindia and Subash Yadav—the towering leaders during that period.
Incidentally, the succeeding generation of the leaders—Ajay Singh, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Arun Yadav, respectively, were present this time. Kamal Nath and Digvijay Singh were the only two leaders who were participants in both the rallies. Back in 1992, Digvijay Singh was the PCC chief and consequently, became the chief minister for ten years after Congress came to power.
“I am not in the race for the chief ministership,” Digvijay Singh categorically said at the rally. He said the question of the chief minister is just a matter of minutes. “First, let us form the government the chief minister can be decided later,” he added.
Senior leaders including Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia had a number of times expressed their willingness to take the responsibility of the state as the PCC chief. However, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi has not heeded to their demands and decided to continue with the present state congress president Arun Yadav.
Yadav, 44, who was also a former union minister, has been working low-profile—touring the hinterlands of the state and coordinating between the various factions of party.
The Lahar unity rally has come as a forced compulsion for the party which had remained out of power in MP for the past 14 years. In the state of bi-polar politics, BJP has systematically used the fissures in the opposition congress to make its way through in the last three assembly polls.
The ambitions of party leaders like Kamal Nath, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Arun Yadav and Ajay Singh to become chief minister have crippled the prospects of the party in the state that was predominately a Congress bastion.
In the rally, all the senior leaders vowed to fight BJP unitedly forgetting their differences. Skirting the question of “who will be the chief minister”, all the leaders spoke against the alleged “misrule of the BJP”.
The party's Madhya Pradesh in-charge General Secretary Mohan Prakash, and Uttar Pradesh Congress President Raj Babbar were also present to witness the unique show of unity.
Speaking on the occasion, Kamal Nath on whose personal aircraft senior leaders flew from Delhi, said, “During our UPA government, we used to import very little so that farmers could get better price for their produce. But the BJP government has made imports to the tune of Rs 24,000 crore in the past six months. This has devastated the farmers.”
Attacking the state BJP government, Scindia said “Farmers are facing the worst time in the last one decade since the BJP rule came at the state and the Centre,” He said, “The killing of six farmers in police firing will not go in vain. People of the state have now understood the falsehood of the chief minister.”
