BHOPAL: Almost five and half years after Jyotiraditya Scindia and his 22 loyalist MLAs switched sides and toppled the Kamal Nath-led Congress government in Madhya Pradesh, a podcast interview has revived the debate around what actually caused the fall of the 15-month-old regime.
What sparked the debate is the statements made by former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and current Rajya Sabha member Digvijaya Singh during a podcast interview with a senior journalist.
The Congress had returned to power in Madhya Pradesh after 15 years under the leadership of former Union minister and then state party chief Kamal Nath in December 2018. The government, which relied on the support of seven MLAs — four independents, two from the BSP and one from the SP — lasted 15 months before 22 Congress legislators loyal to Jyotiraditya Scindia resigned from the party and the Vidhan Sabha to join the BJP.
On 20 March 2020, Nath resigned, paving the way for the BJP's return to power.
During a podcast interview on Saturday, Digvijaya Singh said that despite his sustained efforts to save the government, the Congress regime collapsed due to a personal clash between Scindia and Nath.
"There was no ideological clash, but instead clash of personalities (between Nath and Scindia)," he claimed.
"I’m often blamed for the fall of the Congress government in 2020, but the truth is that I continuously worked to save the government. I had even timely warned about the possibility of such a crisis (fall of government),” Singh said.
“I met an industrialist who enjoys good relations with both the leaders (Nath and Scindia) and told him about the possibility of the government falling. A luncheon meeting was arranged at that industrialist’s house, where all three of us (Nath, Scindia and me) were present. I tried my best to ensure that the crisis was averted,” he said.
"At that meeting some issues pertaining to the Gwalior-Chambal region were raised. It was agreed that whatever issues pertaining to that region were raised, would be addressed as per our (my and Scindia’s) joint wish-list. A joint wish-list pertaining to the Gwalior-Chambal region signed by me and Scindia was submitted the next day only, but nothing actually happened to address the issues and concerns mentioned in that wish-list. Had those issues been addressed (by Nath as CM), maybe the government wouldn’t have fallen," he claimed.
Just a day later, Kamal Nath took to X to respond to the statements.
"Recently, there has been rhetoric regarding the fall of the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh in 2020, which was under my leadership. I just want to say that there is no benefit in digging up old matters. But it’s true that, apart from personal ambitions, Jyotiraditya Scindia felt that the government was being run by Digvijaya Singh. In the same resentment, he broke away the Congress MLAs and toppled our government," he wrote in an X post on Sunday.
Meanwhile, BJP took the opportunity to deny its involvement in toppling the Congress regime.
"Today, Kamal Nath has admitted that the government headed by him was actually being run by Digvijaya Singh. He (Singh) first ruined the state, then the Congress and finally Kamal Nath’s political career. Nath’s social media post has also established that the allegations about BJP having toppled Nath’s government too were false. Greetings to Nath for finally speaking the truth that his government fell due to Digvijaya Singh and other Congress leaders,” state BJP spokesperson Ajay Singh Yadav said.
Yadav too is a former Congress leader, who quit the grand old party to join the BJP in 2023.
The latest controversy over the fall of the Congress regime surfaced on the same day the party’s national leadership met 71 newly appointed district committee presidents in the national capital.
While the meeting was held in New Delhi, Congress workers from Indore reportedly staged a protest outside against the appointment of former MLA Vipin Vankhede as Indore Rural district Congress chief.