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ND Sharma
BHOPAL, DEC 1: Though the lawns of Raj Bhavan where Digvijay Singh was sworn in wore a festive look and echoed with slogans of Congress activists who had gate-crashed, the tense undercurrents of political rivalry among the Congress stalwarts were very much palpable. Even Digvijay's touching the feet of his rivals Arjun Singh, Madhavrao Scindia, Shyama Charan Shukla, Vidya Charan Shukla could not hide the opposition to the chief minister from within the party.
Signs of factional feuds in the MP Congress were evident as Arjun Singh, Madhavrao Scindia and Ajit Jogi did not attend the CLP meeting. The Shukla brothers and Kamal Nath, however, were present.
Later a private plane was sent to Delhi to fetch Arjun Singh and Scindia with the request that they should at least be present at the swearing-in ceremony to convey a positive message to the people of the state. The two arrived just in time to attend the ceremony.
Though everything looked hunky-dory in the end, the Chief Minister had to spend severalsleepless nights before the formal beginning of the second term.
After the polling on Wednesday and before the counting of votes on Saturday, Digvijay Singh spent two days at Raghogarh, praying before Raghoji, the ancestral deity. He returned to Bhopal on Saturday and heard the results from across the state without emotions. Those who met him or talked to him over the telephone after it had become clear that the Congress was returning to power against all predictions missed the boisterous Digvijay Singh. He certainly knew the battle was not over and that the enemies within are tougher to handle.
The public statements by Arjun Singh after the results were out were loaded against Digvijay Singh. Arjun Singh, Scindia, Ajit Jogi and Deputy Chief Minister Subhash Yadav were reportedly joining hands against the Chief Minister. Only Kamal Nath appeared to be behind Digvijay Singh even though he has his own ambitions. SC Shukla, who had unsuccessfully contested against Digvijay Singh for the CLP leadership in1993, lamented that ``My men were massacred at the ticket distribution stage itself.''
Finally, on Monday when it became clear that he was certain to be Sonia's choice, Digvijay was slowly back to his natural self. When The Indian Express asked if he would change his much-criticised style of functioning, he chuckled: ``A leopard does not change its spots.''
In fact, Digvijay Singh has more reasons than the Congress victory to cheer about the results of the Assembly election.
The election proved the disappearing clout of the Congress' national leaders in their home state. It was only in Kamal Nath's area of influence (Mahakoshal) that the Congress did well by winning 44 seats out of 76 as against 43 in 1993. In Arjun Singh's Vindhya region the Congress tally was reduced to 18 out of 43 from 24 in 1993. The party met with disaster in Gwalior-Chambal divisions where Scindia once used to wield his influence.The marginalisation of the other satraps is good news for Digvijay, who started his politicalcareer when he was quite young. A mechanical engineer from Indore's Govindram Seksaria Institute of Technology and Science (GSITS), Digvijay Singh expressed his desire to enter electoral politics when former chief minister Govind Narain Singh, an old family friend, was on a visit to Raghogarh in the early '70s. Raghogarh was then a reserved constituency but the only one from where young Digvijay could hope to win. Govind Narain Singh had to use all his resources to get the constituency de-reserved and Digvijay Singh entered the Assembly in 1977.
He has not looked back. He was re-elected in 1980 and was made a minister of state by Arjun Singh. Though he was inducted into the Congress by S.C. Shukla, Digvijay Singh soon became a trusted lieutenant of Arjun Singh, Shukla's arch rival in the state's politics.
Apart from the fact that Arjun Singh and Digvijay Singh belonged to the same community of Thakurs (and both are community-conscious), Digvijay Singh also appeared to admire Arjun Singh's qualities ofpolitical manipulations which Shukla lacks.
Elected to Parliament in 1984 and then in 1991, Digvijay Singh was elected PCC president in 1992 with the solid backing of Arjun Singh. He was elected leader of the CLP on December 5,1993 with the support of Arjun Singh's MLAs though Arjun Singh had enacted a dramatic boycott from the CLP meeting after making a plea for electing someone from the backward classes as the leader. Digvijay Singh resigned from the Lok Sabha to become the Chief Minister.Digvijay Singh has used Arjun Singh's own tactics in the past few years to push his political guru to the margins of the state's politics. Still, he has someone to watch out for: Arjun Singh's son Ajay Singh Rahul, who represents Churhat, and shares his father's ambitions.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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