The Madhya Pradesh unit of the Congress is likely to go for a revamp, with both the state in-charge and the state party president being changed by the end of this year.
Party leaders aware of the development said Mohan Prakash, who is in charge of the party in MP — where the Congress has been out of power for more than 10 years now — is expected to be replaced by heavyweight leaders who can control the factionalism in the party, which has regional satraps like Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kamalnath and Digvijay Singh.
Prakash, who was made the in-charge of Madhya Pradesh Congress in June 2013, has failed to change the party fortunes in the state because of his failure to control the heavyweight leaders. According to Bhopal-based party leaders, Prakash is considered to be too junior by Scindia, Kamal Nath and Singh, who have more electoral experience than Prakash.
According to party sources, someone of the stature of Ghulam Nabi Azad or Janardhan Dwivedi was likely to replace Mohan Prakash. “Azad and Dwivedi are respected by every Congress leader and even someone like Kamal Nath or Scindia will think twice before ignoring them,” a party MLA, who was one of the few to win in the last elections, said.
“Scindia and Kamal Nath have not been on talking terms with Prakash for a long time now. Both of them are politically ‘taller’ than Prakash and hence, do not give much importance to him,” a Bhopal-based Congress functionary said. According to party sources, someone of the stature of Ghulam Nabi Azad or Janardan Dwivedi was likely to replace Prakash. “Azad and Dwivedi are respected by every Congress leader and even someone like Kamal Nath or Scindia will think twice before ignoring them,” a party MLA, who was one of the few to win in the last elections, said.
Similarly, state party president Arun Yadav is also likely to be replaced soon, with the party likely to appoint either Kamal Nath or Scindia as his successor. The 41-year-old Yadav, who was appointed as the state president in January 2014, after the party’s bitter loss in the 2013 elections, too has failed to uplift the morale of the party workers in the state. Like Prakash, he is also considered to be a junior by these “satraps” and has no influence beyond his area of Khandwa from where he used to be the MP before his loss in the 2014 general elections.
According to Congress leaders aware of the development, while Kamal Nath was very keen for the post, the possibility of Scindia being appointed as the replacement of Yadav, was stronger. “Unlike Kamal Nath, who is 68 years old, Scindia (44) has age on his side and Kamal Nath is relatively unknown outside his constituency. His image is more of a businessman. Unlike him, Scindia has his pocket of influence in every part of the state and is a crowd-puller, which was evident in the 2013 Assembly elections. But he too needs time to develop his team for the 2018 Assembly elections and it will be prudent for the party leadership to appoint him sooner rather than later,” a former Congress MP said.