Scindia sparks row as MP Cong feud simmers

Bhopal: The faction feud in the Madhya Pradesh unit of the Congress is simmering with state Forest Minister Umang Singhar firing yet another salvo against former chief minister Digvijaya Singh and AICC general secretary Jyotiraditya Scindia backing him.

Singhar charged Digvijaya of interfering in the posting of IAS and IPS officials and alleged that the former CM had a role in sand mining, providing ammunition to the main opposition BJP government.

Scindia said issues raised by taken up by Singhar should be looked into, a tacit admission that he backs the forest minister. No one should interfere with running of the government.

This has cornered Chief Minister Kamal Nath, who denied any confusion on who was at the hlm of the state.

Nath said he consults many leaders including Digvijaya, on governance in an apparent bid to douse the row, but the factionalism in the state unit of the Congress is only worsening.

Decoding the diatribes

Political observers are trying to decode the message of Singhar's diatribes and his letter to Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi.

Singhar is a prominent tribal leader and a relative of former deputy chief minister Jamuna Devi.

He does not owe allegiance to any of the three factions in the state Congress backed by Chief Minister Kamal Nath, veteran Congress leader Digvijay Singh and Jyotiraditya Scindia.

The development comes as a setback to the Congress in the state, already battling confusing signals on who would helm the party.

Ministers including P C Sharma, former mayor of Bhopal, and Vibha Patel stoutly defended Digvijaya Singh.

But some Congress leaders are of the opinion that this would negatively impact the party'simage.

"Party workers are shocked and deeply hurt over the unseemly development. It is just unimaginable that leaders would so quickly forget struggle of 15 years. We did not expect party leaders to behave in such an irresponsible manner," a Congress office-bearer said on condition of anonymity.

A section of the party activists hopes Chief Minister Kamal Nath will intervene to douse the issue.

"I am writing this letter to inform that senior party leader and MP is trying to destabilize the Kamal Nath government and trying to establish himself as a power centre," Singhar had written in the letter to Sonia Gandhi.

Digvijaya had written a letter to the state ministers to "know about the action over his recommendations on various issues".

That seems to be the trigger for Singhar's outburst.

Singhar also pointed out that when Congress was in opposition, it had pointed fingers at a Rs 1,500 crore scam related to the organising the Simhasta Kumbh in Ujjain by the then BJP government.

Now that Digviajya's son Jayvardhan Singh is heading the urban administration department, the party is mum on it, he charged.

Digvijaya's letter to ministers may have triggered the fresh round of troubles, the root cause may be much deeper.

Many ministers are unhappy at the way Digvijaya is making "unnecessary interference" in the administration.

Some others say Singhar’s utterances stemmed from his hurt feeling for overlooking Jamuna Devi for chief ministership in the past.

Ever since the Congress came to power, former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and leader of opposition Gopal Bhargava had been ridiculing the ruling partys, which was being pulled in different directions by its power centres.

Chouhan had tweeted that Congress should ensure that the chief minister should run the government.

Bhargava, more than once in the past, had said, this government is being run by two-and-a-half chief ministers.

Needless to say he was referring to Kamal Nath, Digvijaya Singh and Jyotiraditya Scindia.