SATNA, June 1: Those who had written off Congress leader Arjun Singh in the politics of Satna after his humiliating defeat here in the 1996 Lok Sabha elections (he trailed in third after the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party candidates) couldn't have been proved more wrong. Except for one, all the new Pradesh Congress Committee delegates from the district are his loyalists.

The only exception is Kamalakar Chaturvedi. Once considered a staunch loyalist of V C Shukla, he is said to have lately shifted loyalty to Madhavrao Scindia.

Moreover, Singh has managed to pull this off even while he himself stayed away from the Congress organisational elections in the district. His immediate family too kept out. While Singh got elected as a PCC delegate from Raigarh district, his wife and son were chosen from his home district of Sidhi.

Still, it was Singh all the way in Satna city district and Satna rural district. For outward appearances, one of the PCC delegates, Industries Minister Rajendra Singh, may be a loyalist of Chief Minister Digvijay Singh. But as the people here are quick to point out, Rajendra, more importantly, is Singh's brother-in-law. Rajendra got elected to the PCC from Amarpatan block of Satna rural district.

Shukla's supporters, who worked hard to ensure Singh's defeat in last year's Lok Sabha elections, don't figure anywhere in the new PCC. They include district panchayat president and former MLA from Satna, Dheeru Singh Dheeru. The Shukla camp is worried now that its nominees may not be considered by the Congress at even district and state levels for next year's Assembly elections.

Singh has even managed to get his staunch loyalist, Girish Shah, elected as the president of the Satna city District Congress Committee (DCC). Shah had left the Congress along with Singh and had been heading the city unit of the Congress (Tiwari).

The presidentship of the Satna rural DCC has also gone to the Singh camp. Toshan Singh, who had contested on the Congress ticket against Singh in the 1996 Lok Sabha election but who recently converted to the Singh camp, has been elected to the post.

Party sources say Singh himself had suggested to Congress president Sitaram Kesri that Toshan be made president of the Satna rural DCC.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.