INDORE, Oct 5: The two-day political conference of the Madhya Pradesh Congress began at the glittering Abahay Prashal hall here this morning with leaders expressing concern over corruption charges and the lack of unity in the party, in the presence of party chief Sitaram Kesri.

All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Madhavrao Scindia and Chief Minister Digvijay Singh used the occasion to indulge in some sparring.

Scindia observed that merely running the administration was not important; the party would have to identify itself with the masses from whom it had got alienated. He said Digvijay Singh and Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief Urmila Singh were expected to forge unity in the party but there was no sign of efforts on their part yet.

Digvijay Singh, who was the next speaker, spoke very briefly. He narrated the story of a wandering dog which was hounded by its own species but cared for by others. He ended his speech with the plea: ``We can deal with our enemies; only you can save us from our friends.'' (Scindia and Digvijay have never been known to be comfortable with each other.)

Asked at the press conference if he planned to ``save Digvijay from his friends'', Kesri merely said there was always danger from friends. Asked who Digvijay's friends were, he said, ``You better ask Digvijay.''

In a brief speech at the inaugural function of the conference, Kesri hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Left parties, calling them ``unprincipled''. He claimed that the Congress was not corrupt though there might have been lapses which would be corrected. Observing that communalism and casteism were corrupting the society, he said the Congress would fight both .

Kesri said there would be a drastic change in the selection process of party candidates but did not elaborate, either at the meeting or at his press conference.

Addressing the conference, former Chief Minister S C Shukla said the most important weapon against the Congress in the hands of its enemies was corruption and ``we'll have to be cautious about it''. He said the Congress was facing challenges the kind of which it had not faced in the past.

Former Union minister Vidya Charan Shukla stressed the need to curb indiscipline in the party for unity efforts to succeed. ``Whenever the wreckers of unity have been rewarded, the Congress has suffered defeat in the polls,'' he said.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.