By Abhilash Khandekar*
Bhopal: The Indian National Congress (INC) resembles the Greek mythological character Tithonus who was blessed with the boon of immortality—but not eternal youth. He grew older and older without dying. Eventually, he metamorphosed into an insect, cicada, living eternally, but begging for death to overcome him.
For India’s Grand Old Party (GOP), nothing demonstrates it better than its own Madhya Pradesh unit. Some months ago, 22 Congress MLAs from the Scindia camp joined the ruling BJP and two more this week. The trend continues even after the 15-month-old Kamal Nath Government was replaced in March.
A number of Congressmen and women are increasingly preferring Kamal (lotus) over former Chief Minister (Kamal) Nath, who continues to double as MP Congress chief since 2018, as well as the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, the way the First Family continues to wield all the power of the party in New Delhi.
Evan as the Congress appeared to be limping back to normalcy in Rajasthan after the body blow from Sachin Pilot and his supporters, the Nath-led outfit in MP is fast losing grip on its MLAs, hinting at a serious leadership crisis. In the past one week, two more Congress MLAs have quit the party to join BJP, a severe setback to the party’s feeble efforts to put up a ‘tough fight’.
Madhya Pradesh is set to go in for by-elections in 24 Assembly constituencies in the next few months. The entire politics of the state now revolves around these by-elections that would potentially stabilize Shivraj Singh Chauhan who was dramatically sworn in as the CM for the fourth time in March.
While 22 MLAs followed former Union Minister and senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia junked the party, two constituencies fell vacant due to the demise of sitting MLAs. But political observers here feel that by-elections could be held in many more constituencies, considering the beeline being formed by the Congress MLAs to join BJP.
In a sudden move, first-time Congress MLA Sumitra Devi Kasdekar quit her seat of Nepanagar in Burhanpur, near Indore, to join BJP on Friday. Only on July 12, Congress MLA from the Bundelkhand region Pradyumn Singh Lodhi had joined the BJP with the help of former CM Uma Bharti. He was promptly gifted with a Cabinet rank and made the Chairman of the MP Civil Supplies Corporation.
The Congress, which had returned to power in MP with 114 MLAs in 2018 after 15 years of wait, now stands truncated with only 90 lawmakers in a house of 230, with more resignations likely, sources said.
Clearly, the old war horse Kamal Nath is too old to herd his flock of remaining party MLAs. “He does not have time for his own party MLAs. Then why should we remain there?” asked Environment Minister Hardeep Singh Dang who joined the BJP and became a minister recently.
Along with Scindia joining the BJP in New Delhi in mid-March, a large number of his loyalists instantly switched over to the BJP, raising serious doubts over the leadership abilities of Kamal Nath and his crony, former CM Digvijaya Singh. Singh had apparently assured Nath that he would persuade some of the Scindia loyalist 22 MLAs, holed up at a Bengaluru resort, to return to the party fold and that the Congress government will not fall. He had even air-dashed to the Karnataka capital but not one legislator from Scindia camp met the former CM.
Ironically, Singh, who had lost the Lok Sabha election from Bhopal in 2019, managed to become a Rajya Sabha MP in June 2020! Apparently, he is the net gainer of political upheavals in MP. This has reportedly created a rift between him and Kamal Nath. But all is not well with the Singh camp either: his loyalist MLAs are also reportedly in touch with the BJP.
“The Congress is a fast sinking ship”, remarked Chauhan in Ujjain, hours before he inducted Kasdekar into BJP in Bhopal. The CM said the people felt suffocated in the Congress and are leaving it in hordes to join the BJP.
The BJP, which had started its election preparations by outsourcing publicity campaign to a Mumbai-based agency once again, is now aggressively attacking Congress rule in MP. Chouhan is going hammer and tongs against Nath, obliquely terming him power-hungry. “In MP, one person was the CM, he is (also) the party president and now the same person is the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly”, he said, indicating concentration of power.
Even after becoming the CM, Nath had not vacated the PCC chief’s post for Scindia or his nominee, and enjoyed the dual power with Singh’s support. This was a major reason behind Scindia quitting the Congress and pulling the rug from under the feet of the Nath Government. The Gwalior leader was being systematically pushed to the side-lines, forcing him to retaliate. He also reminded the people how his grandmother Rajamata Vijayaraje Scindia had brought down the DP Mishra government in the late 1960s.
With more Congress MLAs reportedly lining up to defect to the BJP, the ruling party is unlikely to let go of the opportunity to further weaken the Congress. But this has created a problem in the BJP itself as its own loyalists are voicing dissent. Senior MLA Ajay Vishnoi (Jabalpur) and former MLA Bhanwar Singh Shekhawat (Indore) are among those who have spoken against the way the BJP is welcoming and rewarding Congress deserters.
*(The writer is a veteran journalist who writes on politics, environment and urban affairs).