NEW DELHI: Congress leaders in Madhya Pradesh have started to suspect PCC president Jitu Patwari of working closely with BJP.
There is a buzz among Congress leaders in Madhya Pradesh that the party’s Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Jitu Patwari is working in tandem with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders. This would subsequently attach the failure of the grand old party’s results in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, in which, the party had scored zero seats.
In addition to that, a large section of the party leaders have taken a stand against Patwari who are waiting for the high command to take a proportionate decision and also try to handover the command of the state unit to another leader. The dismay against Patwari started getting traction after an allegedly leaked audio, in which he was heard telling the state minister Vishwas Sarang that he will not protest against the nursing college scam (allegedly involving the minister).
A source close to the leadership claimed that the audio has reached Rahul Gandhi due to which actions are expected to be taken against the top leader. Another Congress leader said, “If the claims are true and there is an action against him, he will have no option but to join another party as a huge chunk of leaders within the party have started distancing themselves from Patwari. There is a blanket message across the party leaders that he has not worked in the interest of the party.”
Another senior Congress leader said, “There is no response from the high command yet due to which the cadre is confused. Since the audio has already reached the leaders holding important positions at centre, it is expected that the decision on the matter will be taken soon. The reason for delay could also be the party’s preparation towards the parliamentary session which will start from Monday. Since the issues that ought to be raised in the parliament are of much greater significance and of public importance, therefore the decision to let Patwari continue or discontinue may have been put to hold.”
It is also said that a section of Congress leaders are dissatisfied with his way of working, since his appointment as a PCC chief. Leaders close to Patwari indicate that the whole setup of narrative against him has been created by the leaders who do not want him to continue and complete his tenure. A set of leaders close to the leadership suggest that there is also some sort of push from Digvijay Singh to capitalise on the situation and try to reignite the importance of experienced leadership in the state. A leader holding an official position in the party said, “Singh could be backing a leader who is more connected with the rank and file which has subsequently brought up the name of Arun Yadav.”
A leader close to Arun Yadav said, “If there is a change, the next leader in line could be Arun Yadav. He is connected with the ground. If people approach him, he does meet them. He is not like other leaders. When a leader meets people within the organisation, the cadre gets motivated, they feel good and they start working for the interests of the party. But if a leader thinks of himself superior than others just because he has got the bigger responsibility, people stop connecting with him. We have to make our rank and file work like a unified force.”
However, a leader said, there is a bigger problem with the cadre and that is, if a new leader is given the command of the party or any substantial responsibility, then his rivals start working with the saffron camp to obstruct his functioning. The leader added, “Such is the functioning of our party in the state. There is too much of power politics happening. Now that if Digvijay is backing someone in the state, there is another problem, the high command has stopped listening to the senior leaders like Kamal Nath and Digvijay Singh. So, Singh is already on the backfoot and thus may not be able to steer any authority. neither in the national affairs nor state affairs of the party.”