An analysis of the committee member's show that the followers, of Digvijaya Singh have been ignored in a big way. The most shocking is the exclusion of Arif Aqueel, solitary Muslim legislator. Aqueel is not only the solitary Congress Muslim MLA but he is also only Muslim legislator in the 230 member Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha. Aqueel is more than five time MLA. He represents one of the constituencies of Bhopal.

The most sordid part of the formation of the MP Congress committee executive is that it took the party High Command one and half year, to give final touch to the lists of office bearers. During this period the state Congress president nearly functioned without a working committee.

The list of the office bearers is so large that by no standard it can be described a working committee. It may be more appropriate to call it a non-working committee. The working committee consists of 18 vice-presidents 40 general secretaries and 83 secretaries. The number of office-bearers is so large that the PCC office does not have enough space to accommodate them. The revolt like situation arose the moment the names of office-bearers were announced.

The Digvijaya Singh camp is the worst-hit is clear from the exclusion of ex-chief minister's brother Laxman Singh who is also a former member of Parliament. Now he has been named as a special invite.

Digvijaya Singh close aides Manak Agrawal, Arif Aqueel and Govind Goyal were dropped from the PCC executive.

Many faces in the new 193-member PCC executive are little known in the political circles. The bias attitude towards the Yadavs and the Brahmins was apparent, many Congress leaders claimed.

The most surprising omission from the list is former vice-president Manak Agarwal, a poster boy of the PCC for years. 'It is the PCC president's prerogative to have executive of his choice,' Agarwal told media, adding that he has stopped going to the PCC office.

Arun Yadav's confidant Chandrika Dwivedi was appointed as general secretary, in-charge of organisation.

The 193-member list also has 24 special and 28 permanent invitees. 'Congress president Sonia Gandhi has approved the names of office bearers and members of the Executive Committee of Madhya Pradesh Congress including permanent invitees and special invitees,' senior Congress leader Janardan Dwivedi said in a statement.

Besides Laxman Singh, Narendra Nahata, Mahendra Singh Kalukheda, Pratap Bhanu Sharma are among the leaders in the list of special invitees.

Congress heavyweights Kamal Nath, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Digvijaya Singh, Sriniwas Tiwari, Ajay Singh, Suresh Pachouri, Satyavrat Chaturvedi, Satyadev Katare, Kantilal Bhuria, and Hazarilal Raghuvanshi are among the permanent invitees.

Upset over being left out of the newly constituted executive panel of the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC), the lone Muslim MLA in the state assembly, Arif Aqueel, has offered to resign from the party.

The vice-president of the outgoing PCC executive has set a deadline to the party’s central leadership to include him into the 193-member committee, failing which he would put in his papers.

According to sources in the Congress, an angry Aqueel called up Congress legislative party (CLP) leader Satyadev Katare and offered to resign from the party.

“He told Katare that despite being the lone Muslim MLA from the party, if he could not find (a) place in 193-member executive…then it is only appropriate for him to resign from the party,” said a Congress leader, privy to the talks between Katare and Aqueel. He said that Katare has asked Aqueel not to take any decision in haste and let him talk to senior leaders in Delhi.

The CLP leader is reported to have spoken to some senior party leaders in Delhi, including the office of party president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi. He has been advised by the top leaders to take care of the issue in a manner so that the party’s image is not damaged.

Meanwhile consultations have begun among the important party men who have been denied place in the new jumbo executive. According to reports in the local newspapers - Congress dissidents protesting against new Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) executive met at the residence of former leader of Opposition in state assembly Ajay Singh to chalk out further course of action.

Most of those who attended the meeting were from Digvijaya Singh camp, raising question whether the Congress national general secretary was behind the mobilisation against Arun Yadav. Ajay Singh, who had been keeping off the party affairs for quite some time, appeared to be back in his political self, criticizing Arun Yadav for not giving sufficient representation to SCs and STs and giving chance to leaders who have lost in successive elections and asserting that not keeping Arif Aqueel in the executive was no less than a shock for him. Not all the leaders who attended the meeting were those who have failed to make it to the executive.

There were leaders like MLA from Lahar Dr. Govind Singh, who has been retained in the PCC executive, but who are unhappy with the functioning of Arun Yadav.

Following the meeting, former PCC vice president Manak Agrawal said that they met in an attempt towards damage control to party. 'We persuaded Dr. Govind Singh not to resign from his post in the PCC and also persisted with Arif Aqueel that he should not contemplate quitting the party but he was adamant.'

Meanwhile, opposition leader in the state assembly Satyadev Katare, who is in Delhi, talked to party vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Treasure Motilal Vora and political advisor to AICC president on the issue. 'Rahul Gandhi has assured to look into the issue and take an appropriate decision,' said a leader close to Katare.

Arun Yadav also met party president Sonia Gandhi but whether the issue of PCC reconstitution and consequent discontent in the party was discussed or not was not known. (IPA Service)