NEW DELHI: Concerned over infighting between senior leaders Digvijaya Singh and Jyotiraditya Scindia over ticket distribution in Madhya Pradesh, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi has set up a three-member panel comprising AICC treasurer Ahmed Patel, AICC general secretary organisation Ashok Gehlot and Karnataka lawmaker M Veerappa Moily to resolve the issue.
On Wednesday, the duo gave divergent views on tickets being discussed by the party's Central Election Committee for the high-stake poll, right in the presence of Rahul.
Sources said Patel and Gehlot, who worked closely with former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, immediately got down to damage control by talking to the duo and other key leaders in Madhya Pradesh. "The controversy is very unfortunate, but it shows that ticket distribution will critical to our MP strategy as there is a strong demand," acknowledged a senior AICC functionary.
Party insiders recalled how infighting between the camps of Singh, Scindia and Kamal Nath, who was made the state unit chief pushing back the candidature of Scindia, has kept the MP Congress in the opposition over the past three assembly elections.
Congress managers realise the upcoming poll is a do-or-die battle and they must exploit the incumbency against three-term chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
Digvijaya Singh, a two-term former chief minister who still holds sway over most parts of MP, was given the charge of coordinating the Assembly polls. But, he was largely missing from Rahul's high-pitched campaigns of late in which both Scindia and Kamal Nath were prominent faces.
Singh recently welcomed Rahul in Indore, saying he was unable to attend his roadshow as Kamal Nath had given him important work. Singh's absence, however, was a discussion point among the locals, said sources.
Interestingly, in April, when Singh had completed his six-month Narmada Yatra, which drew huge crowds, he had endorsed the name of Kamal Nath as the state unit chief over a much younger Scindia, who was conspicuous by his absence at the event.