Notebandi fails to unite !

N D Sharma Ma d h y a P r a d e s h C o n g r e s s C o m m i t t e e p r e s i d e n t Arun Yadav had called a meeting of party leaders on January 3 to finalise the preparations for the proposed anti-notebandi demonstrations in the State, as part of the nationwide stir planned by the party's central leadership. AICC general secretary in-charge of Madhya Pradesh affairs Mohan Prakash had arrived a day earlier to ensure an impressive show by the party.

Mohan Prakash All party candidates in the 2014 Lok Sabha poll and all party MLAs, along with district Congress presidents and coordinators were invited. Yadav's invitation was ignored by veterans including Digvijaya Singh, Kamal Nath, Jyotiraditya Scindia, and their supporters. Only Kantilal Bhuria turned up out of the Lok Sabha candidates. And not even 50 per cent of the MLAs came.

Arun Yadav Needless to say it was a ludicrously poor show by the party on January 6. Wherever Congress activists and supporters did appear on the road to express their disapproval of the demonetisation, they did so not as party workers but as loyalists of individual leaders.

Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh Two different groups, for instance, demonstrated in Ujjain. One group calling itself as 'wafadar Congressis' (apparently owing loyalty to the PCC chief) took out a Janakrosh rally. The other group led by former MP Premchand Guddu held a Janakrosh Sabha separately. Similar was the scene at other places. For all practical purposes, Congress in Madhya Pradesh has long ceased to be a cohesive political party. It is like a conglomeration of several factions, often pulling down one a n o t h e r instead of f i g h t i n g against the anti-people actions of the government.

Premchand Guddu The fable of the w a n d e r i n g dog, narrated by then Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh to describe the situation in the Madhya Pradesh Congress two decades ago, still holds true about the party. It was in 1997 at Indore where the party's political conference was held. All top leaders were present. The fable was that a dog, on a journey, was hounded by its own community but taken good care of by others. He ended it with the plea, in the presence of then Congress president Sitaram Kesri: 'we can deal with our enemies; you only save us from our friends'

Lack of interest on the part of the high command is the main reason for the degeneration of Congress in Madhya Pradesh. Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly Satyadev Katare died in October last year after a prolonged illness. Winter session of the Assembly has, meanwhile, passed. The Congress high command has not so far 'named' a new Leader of Congress Legislature Party.

Digvijaya Singh had spoken immediately after Madhavrao Scindia who had referred to the lack of rapport between the ruling Congress party and the people. Not only Scindia but Arjun Singh, too, seemed to have taken offence at Digvijaya Singh's fable because Arjun Singh also had criticised the way the State government was functioning).

Many years later, Digvijaya Singh himself hounded the 'wandering dog'. When Arun Yadav was made PCC chief three years ago, he started his job with apparent enthusiasm. At the first meeting of PCC, Jagdish Yadav, PCC secretary and a friend of Arun Yadav, described as inauspicious the mention of the name of Digvijaya Singh (who was in Delhi). For this Jagdish Yadav was suspended and served a show-cause notice, which gave a clear message to the party workers that new PCC chief Arun Yadav would not tolerate 'indiscipline' by any party leader or worker, even though he may be his personal friend.

Suresh Pachouri and Jamuna Devi However, before the day was out, Digvijaya Singh called Arun Yadav (and also made it public) that suspension of Jagdish Yadav should be revoked as he (Jagdish Yadav) was a dedicated Congressman. Many Congressmen were surprised to know Digvijaya Singh's latest views about Jagdish Yadav because the Raja of Raghogqrh was never known to have liked Jagdish Yadav or any Yadav for that matter. Thus snubbed publicly even for working in the party interest, Arun Yadav lost whatever zeal he had and started on the safe path of running his own faction in the party and, in the process. Inviting unsavoury allegations. The party high command was not concerned.

Satyadev Katare When Suresh Pachouri was the PCC chief in Madhya Pradesh (2008-11), Jamuna Devi was the Leader of Opposition. A rival Congress leader of Jamuna Devi from her Dhar district brought 200 persons to Bhopal. They held a demonstration against Jamuna Devi and submitted a memorandum to Pachouri seeking removal of Jamuna Devi. Pachouri entertained them properly, gladly accepted the memorandum and assured them that he would take it to the Congress president. Irrespective of whether he took the memorandum to the Congress president, the party high command never tried to stem the riot. The two continued in their separate ways, often working against each other. However, Jamuna Devi (since deceased) never betrayed the party interests. Pachouri did with impunity.

Sonia Gandhi Lack of interest on the part of the high command is the main reason for the degeneration of Congress in Madhya Pradesh. Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly Satyadev Katare died in October last year after a prolonged illness. Winter session of the Assembly has, meanwhile, passed. The Congress high command has not so far 'named' a new Leader of Congress Legislature Party.
This 'naming' of the Leader has also become a scandal in the Congress. Under Sonia Gandhi's dispensation, legislators have nothing to do with the election of their Leader. The rules prescribe that a meeting of the party MLAs will be convened for the election of the Leader. A formal resolution will be a d o p t e d for the p u r p o s e .

Ajay Singh E l e c t i o n may be unanimous or by a majority vote. The copy of the resolution will be communicated to the Speaker of the Assembly in a prescribed manner. The Speaker announces his approval in the Assembly. Then only he/she becomes Leader of Opposition.
In Madhya Pradesh, an observer of AICC or the AICC general secretary in charge of Madhya Pradesh gets signatures of party MLAs on a single-line resolution authorising Sonia Gandhi to name the Leader. The general secretary in-charge then gets the signature of Sonia Gandhi for a particular name and a copy of that is sent to the Speaker somehow and Speaker promptly gives his approval. This happened in the last Assembly (after 2008 elections) when Ajay Singh was the 'Leader of Opposition' and this happened in the post-2013 elections Assembly when Satyadev Katare was made the 'Leader of Opposition'.
On both the occasions, even after getting Sonia Gandhi's

The Congress workers, who were led to believe before the Assembly elections that the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government was on its way out, were naturally demoralised as the Congress failed to win even as many seats as it had in 2008.

approval it was not felt necessary to convene a meeting of party MLAs to fulfil the formality of adopting the required resolution. If the Speaker did not point out the irregularities in 'election' of the Leader and in communication to the Speaker, it was because it suited the ruling BJP. The MLAs do not give due regard to the Leader because they feel they were not directly involved even in the socalled election; the Leader is happy to get his substantial perks as Leader of Opposition, hobnobs with the ruling bosses who are always eager to please him and his small coterie.

MLAs work almost independently in the Assembly, sometimes even working at cross purposes. Occasionally the meetings of Legislature Party are convened to discuss the 'party strategy' in the House but only rarely a concerted effort of the party was seen to corner the government.

Here is an example of how the PCC in Madhya Pradesh functions. A day after the polling for the Madhya Pradesh Assembly was over on November 25 (2013), the State Congress announced appointment of a dozen officebearers of the PCC. A few days earlier, when the campaign was on its last leg, a large number of PCC spokesmen were appointed without any specific brief or assignment. That, in a way, reflected the State of the Congress on the eve of the Assembly elections. Little wonder that the Congress was all but decimated in the elections for the third time in a row.

The Congress workers, who were led to believe before the Assembly elections that the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government was on its way out, were naturally demoralised as the Congress failed to win even as many seats as it had in 2008. Their demoralisation deepened when AICC general secretary and former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh quietly turned up to file his nomination papers for Rajya Sabha for the lone seat that the Congress could win on the basis of its strength in the Assembly.

Digvijaya Singh had always mocked at those who entered Parliament through the 'back door'. His decision to run away from a contest had sent the inevitable message to the party's workers and supporters that there was no hope for the Congress in near future.