The internal divisions of the Madhya Pradesh Congress have once again started gaining traction after a video of a taped awkwardness between senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh and Congress in-charge Harish Chaudhary at a press conference went viral on social media. The incident has strong resonances on the ground and served as fodder for the BJP to attack the opposition party.
Soon after its release, people took Jetzon to task in public for the party’s wrongdoing, calling leaders inexcusable for disrespecting a senior leader. It has been decades since the party was being led by Digvijaya Singh, popularly known among the supporters as ”Raja Saheb,” they said, and any objection to him is an objection to the party.
The controversy broke out at the Congress press conference, which was arranged with regard to the Meenakshi Natarajan issue. When Digvijaya Singh called upon JP Dhanopia to speak, Harish Chaudhary barged in and told him, “We will do it.” It seemed to anger the old chief minister. Later on, Digvijaya Singh was seen folding his hands, and then refused to speak to the media when asked by the state Congress chief Jitu Patwari.
The incident has heightened worries regarding the intra-party issue of factionalism in the Madhya Pradesh Congress party. The incident may further exacerbate some tensions within the state as political strife looks set to engulf the state in the run-up to the upcoming bell-ringing.
Meanwhile, the BJP has taken the time to slash Congress. BJP MLA Rameshwar Sharma claimed that being insulted was a regular affair in the Congress party at the senior and local levels. Likening the viral video to the ‘Gandhi antonym’ phenomenon in Congress, Sharma said it was quite a phenomenon reflecting the growing fissure in the Congress group. He added that after spending the decades with the party, Digvijaya Singh should think about retiring from active politics due to the disrespect of the public he will receive.
The rope is still getting knotted about the video en route, with the Congress in Madhya Pradesh facing a renewed challenge on how to act on it, from unity and internal coordination within the party.