Both Singh and Kamal Nath, the current PCC chief, are waiting to seek a majority of tickets for their loyalists.
As the Congress is expecting a win in the poll-bound state of Madhya Pradesh, the grand old party’s internal politics is expected to turn intense over ticket distribution. Both the veteran leaders, Kamal Nath (who is currently the PCC chief of the state unit) and ex-Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh, are waiting to seek a majority of tickets for their loyalists.
Party insiders suggest that Singh has not been involved in “high-pressure politics” within the party when it has been about appointing people in the organisation. This means, he is not pushing for his candidates or loyalists to be appointed on party positions in the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC). But, he wants the lion’s share in ticket distribution which will give Singh the ability to have his hands on the levers of power in the government. A party insider said, “The key to run the government will be in his hands, if he gets the majority of tickets for his loyalists and if they win. He will be working hard to make his candidates win the Assembly elections.”
Last time, after heated discussions between the rival camps of Jyotiraditya Scindia and Singh, the latter managed to get tickets for as many as 75 of his loyalists. And Scindia managed to secure tickets for his 40-odd supporters. Moreover, the rival camps of Scindia had made sure that he gets sized down early, just as the ticket distribution exercise is conducted. However, fast forward to current scenario, there is no Scindia in Congress. A Congress leader said, “Last time as well, maximum MLAs were with Digvijaya Singh.”
A senior Congress leader in Madhya Pradesh said, “Digvijaya Singh is working for the party in shadows. He is supporting Kamal Nath. Both the leaders are taking decisions collectively. So there, we have no dispute. It is all smooth. Yet it is the Singh who has been the master planner all this while. He is the one known for his homework when he steps out to carry out any strategy on the ground. He knows the arithmetic well. He knows how the social engineering works on the ground. And it is also true that the Congress workers feel galvanised with Kamal Nath at the helm. Both the leaders are doing their job diligently to deliver a win for the party.”
However, other senior leaders suggest that the party is in much smoother intra-political space than the last time when Jyotiraditya Scindia was a pushy contender for chief ministerial position, as against Kamal Nath. This had invoked an intense infighting between the Scindia camp and, Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh who were siding with each other. “Scindia is not there now which has cleaned the Congress from ‘camp-politics’.
That means there will be no apprehension of party leaders working against each other within the party. This time, the elections are going to be completely different. We are stronger because there is no infighting and there are no murmurs of division within the party.”