BHOPAL: Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and Congress national general secretary Digvijaya Singh, who went into a self-imposed exile from active politics of the central Indian state following the party’s drubbing by Uma Bharti-led BJP in 2003 is back into reckoning again in MP politics, now as the head of the newly formed 13-member State Congress’ Coordination Committee.
The septuagenarian leader, however, has made it clear that neither he nor any other member of the Coordination Committee will contest the next assembly polls in the state, where the Congress has been out of power since last 15 years.
“Let me make it very clear, none of the members of the Coordination Committee will contest the assembly polls in the state,” said Singh while talking to journalists in the presence of MP Congress Committee president Kamal Nath in Bhopal on Thursday.
Singh also announced his next political trek that will travel across all 51 districts of the state. The yatra which will start on May 31 from the famous Ramraja Temple (considered MP’s Ayodhya) in Orchha town of Bundelkand’s Tikamgarh, will not be his individual yatra.
“Unlike my recently concluded spiritual Narmada Parikrama Yatra which I undertook for six months with my better half on individual level, the coming yatra will be led by me as the chairperson of the newly constituted State Party’s Coordination Committee. Senior leaders of the state, including MPCC chief Kamal Nath, Election Campaign Committee chief Jyotiraditya Scindia and others too will feature in the trek from time to time. It’s not my individual yatra, but a trek of Coordination Committee members under the party flag,” maintained Singh.
Singh added that the yatra’s first phase of travelling in all 51 districts will be over by August 31. “If the need arose then smaller yatras will again be undertaken to coordinate with party workers in districts where more coordination is needed. The yatra is aimed at rejuvenating the inactive party workers, ironing out differences within local party leadership in districts and coordinating with the party’s rank and file in all 51 districts. During the yatra, none of the Committee members will take bio data’s of ticket aspirants for the assembly polls,” said Singh.
Importantly, the statewide yatra was initially slated to start from Ramraja Temple in Orchha town on May 15, but owing to lack of consensus over it among the state party leadership, it was re-scheduled for May 31. The new date for the Yatra was finalized after the first meeting of the newly formed Coordination Committee, where MPCC president Kamal Nath too was present on Thursday.