Digvijaya Singh refuses to be called the 'king maker' of the new Congress government in Madhya Pradesh. However, political analysts call Digvijaya the chief architect who orchestrated the Congress's comeback in the state he ruled 15 years ago.
Digvijaya Singh had been dubbed the 'bad boy' of the Congress in the years since it lost power in Madhya Pradesh in 2003. In 2003, the Congress, led by Digvijaya, who was then chief minister, was defeated by the BJP, which was led by Uma Bharti, in the assembly polls.
After that loss, the Congress lost consecutive assembly elections in 2008 and 2013. In both these elections, a section of Congress leaders, including the party high command, believed that they lost because of deep resentment among people about poor governance under Digvijaya's tenure.
During the 2018 elections, Digvijaya himself said that he was not openly campaigning for the Congress as many leaders believed that his speeches caused more damage for the party then getting votes. According to a a senior Congress leader, “Digvijaya became unpopular in the state because the BJP ran a concerted campaign to malign his image. He was termed as bantadhar (one who spoils everything), but Digvijaya never worked to get rid of that image. Over the years, even the Congress high command believed so.”
When Congress chief Rahul Gandhi came to Bhopal in October to formally launch the poll campaign, the posters and cut-outs of Digvijaya Singh were deliberately not put up in public rallies. Though Digvijaya said he himself had asked the party not to put his cut-outs, it was a decision of the party to keep him in the background owing to his poor image.
Digvijaya Singh probably knows well that he is good at planning things and working behind the scenes. Madhya Pradesh Congress chief and now Chief Minister Kamal Nath realised this quality and gave Digvijaya the responsibility of speaking to leaders of various fractions and properly coordinating among them. Digvijaya did this task very well. In fact, he successfully managed to get most of the rebel candidates of the Congress to withdraw.
In 2017, when Digvijaya Singh had hardly any work in Delhi after being dropped as general secretary of the Congress, he started a Narmada Parikrama in order to get rid of his image of being a pro-minority leader. After the six-month-long gruelling yatra, Digvijaya was able to create a new image for himself—that of a Hindu leader. The image makeover exercise worked well.
The yatra served two purposes for Digvijaya: one to get rid of his pro-minority image and, secondly, to revive his contacts in nearly 150 assembly constituencies through which he passed when walking along his wife Amrita Singh. Though the yatra was a religious one, with its declared objective being spiritual in nature, political leaders and politics were all around Digvijaya. Digvijaya himself did not speak of politics during the yatra, but all his steps overtly indicated his political ambition.
The yatra revived not only the image of Digvijaya Singh but also the Congress cadres who did not have a leader who was known across the state. Digvijaya Singh knows every nook and corner of Madhya Pradesh. He had toured the entire state several times as PCC chief in 1993 and later as chief minister for 10 years.
In fact, in the current Congress government, the faction of Digvijaya Singh is the strongest. On the issue of ticket distribution, Digvijaya aligned with Kamal Nath to secure the maximum number of tickets for his supporters. Out of the 114 Congress MLAs in the new assembly, a majority are from Digvijaya's camp.
Kamal Nath relies a lot on Digvijaya for his knowledge of grass-roots leaders and the state bureaucracy. In fact, the new cabinet has the clear imprint of the former chief minister, who has got nearly a dozen of his men in charge of important portfolios.
Since Digvijaya holds immense sway over the MLAs, Kamal Nath keep him in good humour. The next important leader of the Congress in the state—Jyotiraditya Scindia—who was campaign committee chief was also a frontrunner for the post of chief minister. To keep Scindia at a distance, Kamal Nath keeps Digvijaya on his side.
Call it compulsion or mere politics, Digvijaya Singh has to be the best buddy of Kamal Nath in Madhya Pradesh at the moment.