Luckily, his visit to Mandsaur and the nearby villages passed off peacefully and he did not face a hostile crowd – as he had done at Petlavad in Jhabua district last year, where about one hundred persons were killed when gelatin sticks, illegally stored in a godown, had exploded. He was heckled and the angry crowd had forced him to squat on the ground and listen to their grievances.

In view of the farmers' agitation, the chief minister has cancelled his visit to Russia and Switzerland. He was to leave on June 18 for the trip. He has also postponed his visit to Odisha, where he was to address a public meeting as part of the ‘Modi Fest’.

Jyotiraditya Scindia, chief whip of Congress in the Lok Sabha, is keeping the pot boiling. He launched his three-day Satyagraha at Bhopal on June 14. Before reaching the state capital, he visited Mandsaur but was not allowed to hold any programme or even meet the families of the victims of police firing. When he tried to force his entry into the town, he was arrested.

Scindia, a member of the Gwalior royal family, belongs to the third generation of his family in politics. The first generation was represented by his grandmother Vijayaraje Scindia. She began her political career as a Congress person but later developed serious differences with the then Congress chief minister DP Mishra. She left the Congress and toppled the Mishra government with the help of Jana Sangh. The second generation was represented by Madhavrao Scindia, who served the Congress in various capacities, including as minister in the Rajiv Gandhi cabinet. After his death in an air crash, his son Jyotiraditya entered the Lok Sabha and became a member of the Manmohan Singh ministry. One of his two aunts, Vasundhararaje Scindia is the chief minister of Rajasthan and another, Yashodhararaje Scindia, is a cabinet minister in Madhya Pradesh. The popularity of the Scindia family is intact with no Scindia having lost any election in the state so far.

In the last general elections, Scindia was made in-charge of the Congress’ poll effort in the state. At present he is considered a frontrunner for the post of chief ministership in case Congress romps home with a majority in the 2018 Vidhan Sabha elections.

The Bhopal Satyagraha is being regarded as the first major step towards projecting him as the Congress’ chief ministerial candidate. Thousands of Congressmen visited Bhopal during his Satyagraha. In the course of his interaction with the IPA he said that the people of Madhya Pradesh, in particular the farmers, were facing several problems. Corruption and inefficiency were the hallmarks of the BJP government. “It is our solemn duty to rescue our people from this government”, he said.

Though the Satyagraha was launched by Scindia at his own initiative, he received the support of other Congress satraps of the state. Digvijay Singh, former chief minister and AICC general secretary, came to Bhopal and addressed the crowd at the Satyagraha venue.

Singh showered praise on Scindia, but said that the chief ministerial candidate will be announced after the polls. "People keep asking me about the Congress CM candidate in MP. I tell them, a CM will be elected by the legislature party once Congress comes to power. Did we have a chief ministerial candidate in 1993?" he asked. It was Digvijay Singh who became CM after the 1993 assembly polls.

Besides Scindia’s Satyagraha, the state government has had to face the anger of the grain merchants, who are incensed by the chief minster's statement that criminal cases will be lodged against traders who purchase farm produce at below-MSP rates. The traders’ call for a day-long bandh in the state on June 15 evoked overwhelming response.

Meanwhile, two incidents caused embarrassment to the government: one, the suicide by eight farmers in six days since June 10, the day farmers agitation ended, and the other, the exchange of abusive words between state Agriculture Minister Gauri Shanker Bisen and BJP Lok Sabha member Bodh Singh Bhagat at a function to mark three years' of Modi government. The state party leadership has sought explanation from both. (IPA Service)