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Lok Sabha election 2019: Congress warhorse Digvijaya Singh can’t be written off
In every election since 2003, Digvijaya Singh had been the main target of the BJP which named him ‘Mr Bantadhar’ or someone who spoils things.
One of the favourite punching bags of the right wing troll army, senior leader Digvijaya Singh has been sidelined in the Congress’ national politics. But he often proves that given his political acumen he can’t be written off despite his controversial statements that embarrassed his party on several occasions.
In every election since 2003, Digvijaya Singh had been the main target of the BJP which named him ‘Mr Bantadhar’ or someone who spoils things. The Bharatiya Janata Party used the tag successfully in 2003, 2008, 2013 state assembly elections and the Lok Sabha polls in 2004, 2009 and 2014.
After his ten-year stint as the chief minister, he announced ahead of the assembly election in 2003 that he would not accept any post for ten years if the Congress lost. He was oblivious of the fact that it was going to be a political exile for him in Madhya Pradesh for the next 15 years as the Congress slipped to the lowest tally of 38 seats in the assembly election.
Read: Congress looks to spoil BJP chances in Bhopal
A mechanical engineer, Digvijaya Singh’s social engineering formula with his Dalit agenda that he pushed ahead of 2003 assembly elections didn’t pay off and the BJP snatched power from him. After 2003, he contested an election for the Rajya Sabha in 2014.
Though he became the AICC general secretary, he was sidelined in the party after an apparent goof-up in Goa when the Congress failed to stake its claim to form a government in the coastal state despite being the largest party in the 2017 assembly elections.
The assembly election in Madhya Pradesh in November last year gave him an opportunity to settle the score with the BJP for his defeat in 2003. Given the BJP’s strategy to heap blames at his door for the state’s backwardness in every election, he had chosen to remain in the war room instead of being at the forefront.
Read: All you need to know about Madhya Pradesh
The 72-year-old contributed to a certain extent to the Congress’ victory in the assembly elections last year on his home turf after it remained out of power in Madhya Pradesh for 15 years.
As the Congress coordination committee chairperson of Madhya Pradesh, he undertook tours of the entire state and tried to iron out differences among various factions of the party that was one of the main reasons behind the grand old party’s back to back defeats.
He also undertook a 3,300km Narmada parikrama or circumambulation of the river on foot from September 2017 for more than six months during which he didn’t make any political remark, a move that helped him politically after the Goa fiasco. During this parikrama, the first by any prominent leader in the state, he cemented his position that helped the party later.
Read: Profile of BJP’s Poonam Mahajan
The descendant of the erstwhile royal family of Raghogarh in Guna district is also known for springing surprises on his rivals and also the bonhomie with them. He took his son Jaivardhan Singh, who is a minister in the Kamal Nath government, to the then chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to seek his blessings. This came despite the fact that Singh had filed a petition against Chouhan alleging that he and his wife were involved in the Vyapam scam.
He filed a defamation suit against the then chief minister Uma Bharti in 2003 and the then leader of opposition Sunderlal Patwa for their allegations of corruption against him. While Patwa has died, his legal battle with Uma Bharti is still on but he enjoys a good relationship with her too.
Now in the Lok Sabha election 2019, 16 years after his Waterloo in the 2003 assembly elections, he is at the forefront of electoral politics again after he was declared as the Congress nominee from the Bhopal parliamentary seat. His first choice, however as he said, was Rajgarh seat. But he also said, “I am in habit of accepting challenges.” The BJP and RSS both seem to be determined to give a befitting reply to the leader for what several saffron leaders allege is his anti-Hindutva stance, love for Pakistan and respect for the terrorists like Osama bin Laden, Hafeez Saeed etc.
Read: Click here for full coverage of Lok Sabha elections 2019
His candidacy for Bhopal came after chief minister of Madhya Pradesh Kamal Nath announced that Digvijaya Singh should contest from a tough seat. The Congress has not been able to win the Bhopal seat since the 1989 Lok Sabha election. And given Digvijaya Singh’s stature, the BJP has not able to decide on its candidate for Bhopal even after a fortnight as, party sources say, it doesn’t want to repeat its sitting MP Alok Sanjar. Sources in the BJP say the party leadership wants former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to fight against Digvijaya Singh but Chouhan, as he himself has admitted, is not willing to contest the Lok Sabha election.
