Congress Crisis Managers on the Job to Contain Rebellion in Jharkhand, MP Units

Speculations are rife over senior Congress leader Kamalnath switching over his loyalties to BJP. In this backdrop, AICC secretary in-charge of Madhya Pradesh Shiv Bhatia speaking to ETV Bharat's Amit Agnihotri said, “Till something happens all these reports are rumours. There is no point reacting to them.”

New Delhi:The Congress managers went into overdrive on Sunday over the rebellion being faced in the Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh units. According to party insiders, Madhya Pradesh CLP leader Umang Singhar, a tribal leader, has been summoned to Delhi to negotiate with a dozen rebel Jharkhand MLAs, who are unhappy over ministerial appointments in the JMM-Congress-RJD coalition government, headed by Chief Minister Champai Soren.

Singhar had earlier functioned as AICC secretary in-charge of Jharkhand and knows the rebel MLAs well. The rebels are unhappy over the repetition of all four ministers from the Congress quota in the new Champai Soren government. The Chief Minister also met Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge to sort out the alliance issues in Delhi. The development comes days after the JMM-Congress won a trust vote in the state assembly despite efforts from the BJP to poach some of their MLAs after former Chief Minister Hemant Soren had resigned following his arrest by the ED in an alleged corruption case.

In Madhya Pradesh, the party managers are bracing up for the shock that will be caused by the imminent exit of former Chief Minister Kamal Nath, who is moving to the BJP. “The BJP will not gain much in the state by taking Kamal Nath. But, Kamal Nath will not move alone, he will take several MLAs and leaders, along with him. This will be seen as a major setback for Congress and will create a negative perception of the grand old party. This will help the BJP in other states ahead of the Lok Sabha polls,” a senior AICC functionary said.

Over the past two days, as speculation was rife over Kamal Nath’s exit, the AICC managers tried to establish contact with the former Chief Minister, but in vain. Kamal Nath, however, spoke to former Chief Minister Digvijay Singh and reiterated that he was still in the Congress, but behind-the-scenes developments signalled to the AICC managers that their worst fears could soon turn out to be true.

It was then that state unit chief Jitu Patwari was asked to publicly deny reports of Kamal Nath leaving and highlight his decades-long connections with the Gandhi family. Patwari replaced Kamal Nath as the state unit chief after the party lost the state polls. “It is a kind of guessing game in the party over Kamal Nath’s future, but I think his joining the BJP is just a matter of time. The formal announcement may come on Sunday or Monday once he completes the negotiations with the BJP. An indicator of where things are moving is Kamal Nath not categorically denying the speculations. Plus, this had been in the air for some time, but nothing was done till the crisis precipitated,” a senior AICC functionary said.

“Till something happens all these reports are rumours. There is no point reacting to them,” AICC secretary in-charge of Madhya Pradesh Shiv Bhatia told ETV Bharat. “I think that all those who are guided by party ideology will stay back,” senior MP Congress leader Shobha Oza told ETV Bharat. Meanwhile, the AICC managers asked the state leaders to contact the Madhya Pradesh party MLAs and senior leaders considered close to Kamal Nath to ensure the extent of the likely damage.

“Several MLAs, elected representatives in the local bodies, including mayors, corporators, are likely to leave the Congress, along with Kamal Nath. It is going to be a setback, but not majorly impact the Congress in the state as the party won only 1/29 Lok Sabha seats in the state in 2019. That lone seat was the Chhindwara parliamentary constituency from where his son Nakul Nath was elected. Nakul Nath may get a BJP ticket from Chhindwara,” said a senior AICC functionary.