BHOPAL: Former Madhya Pradesh Congress president and ex-Union minister Arun Yadav has urged Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and the party's central leadership to intervene to strengthen organisational unity in the state unit.
"Honorable Shri Rahul Gandhi, the BJP and its government are grappling with internal conflicts, failures, and other problems in Madhya Pradesh. Even in this period, the truly loyal workers of the Congress party organization (in MP) are struggling ideologically. During such times, certain individuals are making futile attempts to break the morale of those workers under a contrived conspiracy; there is no doubt in this.
"It is only by combining the enthusiasm of the youth and the wisdom of the party's experienced leaders that we can confront the fascist ideology. In such a situation, if responsible people try to exploit their personal grievances and animosity at the expense of the party's workers, it will not be timely. Kindly intervene through the central leadership to prevent the morale of the struggling workers from breaking and graciously strengthen the organizational unity," Yadav posted on X on Wednesday.
Yadav's post came a day after reports of infighting surfaced during the Madhya Pradesh Congress Political Affairs Committee (PAC) meeting at the party headquarters in Bhopal.
Former minister Sajjan Singh Verma, MLA Arif Masood and former MLA Pravin Pathak reportedly criticised senior Congress leader and former chief minister Digvijaya Singh for contradicting state Congress president Jitu Patwari's stand on allegations relating to the allotment of land worth Rs 500 crore to a trust in Ujjain by the Mohan Yadav government.
In a related development, Madhya Pradesh Congress general secretary Nidhi Chaturvedi, daughter of former MP Satyavrat Chaturvedi, launched a sharp attack on Digvijaya Singh in a social media post.
"When will Congress be freed from 'Naagpash' of Digvijaya Singh. His (Singh's) restlessness, anger, and indecorous conduct are nothing but a highly inappropriate, distressing, and condemnable step taken out of 'attachment to his son.' In his ambition to seat his son, Jaivardhan Singh, in the position of state party president, he has forgotten what party discipline means," she wrote.
The controversy stems from a June 24 press conference in New Delhi, where Patwari and Congress media department chairman Pawan Khera cited a national daily's investigation into land purchases by Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, his relatives and associated real estate firms in Ujjain.
Patwari had also alleged that government land worth Rs 500 crore in Ujjain had been allotted to the Veer Bharat Nyas for a token amount of Re 1. "Its trustee is Shriram Tiwari, who is the Chief Minister's cultural advisor. On what basis was such expensive land given to this trust?" he had asked.
Days later, Digvijaya Singh publicly disputed the allegation while speaking to reporters in Ujjain and later in Barwani.
"It is being alleged that land worth Rs 500 crore has been rendered to a private trust for Rs 1 only. But I've all relevant papers with me, which establish that the concerned land hasn't been given to any private trust, instead the concerned trust is a government trust. I don't speak on any issue without proper research... There isn't a dearth of dalals (brokers), who make false accusations and then earn money," Singh had said.
His remarks, seen as contradicting the state unit's allegations, were repeatedly highlighted by the BJP to target Patwari while praising Singh's stand.
The reported differences triggered resentment among several Congress leaders during Tuesday's PAC meeting, prompting Digvijaya Singh and Patwari to jointly address the media later in the day.
"Entire Congress party in MP is united in the fight against corruption of Dr Mohan Yadav government. All complaints related to land deals by the state's CM and his family are being probed at our level. We all will unitedly fight a definite battle on the issue," the two leaders said.
Seeking to end speculation over differences, Digvijaya Singh added: "Confusion is being spread about differences between me and state party chief Jitu Patwari. He (Patwari) is like my son. I've spent more than half a century in the Congress party. I can never use the word Dalal for any leader of the party, including the state party chief. I used the word Dalal for a journalist, whose name is Bhupendra Dalal."
With the reports of infighting dominating television coverage, the Madhya Pradesh Congress on Wednesday questioned why electronic media channels had not given similar prominence to the allegations over the chief minister's land deals.
"Instead of covering issues of burning public importance, efforts are being made to divert the public attention to other issues," the party said.
The state Congress has also announced a three-day Maun Satyagraha (silent protest). In an official statement, state Congress general secretary (organisation) Dr Sanjay Kamle said that, barring authorised press conferences and briefings, no Congress leader in the state would participate in television debates or give soundbites to TV channels during the next three days.
