Incidentally Surendra Singh, who was President of Bhopal lost his Vidhan Sabh seat in Bhopal. Rakesh Singh’s decision resulted in the protest by a section of party men. The moment new President of Bhopal was appointed Chouhan’s followers reached his residence and conveyed their anger to him. With the reconstitution of 11 district committees, Rakesh Singh has shown that he commands the party. Prior to Vidhan Sabha elections, he was totally dependent on Chouhan.

Besides the reconstitution of the district units, Rakesh Singh has also identified the issues which will form the base of elections. Proposed twelve point agenda includes my family BJP family, Kamal jyoti sankalp, One booth ten youth, Kamal cup sport events, intellectuals meet Modi, BJP parivar team, Kamal Sandesh cycle rally, honouring army men, Youth parliament, First vote to Modi, victory by youth conclave and Kamal youth festivals.

As part of preparations for Lok Sabha elections Congress President Rahul Gandhi has constituted five panels. These panels will take care of various issues relating to the campaign for Lok Sabha elections. Senior Congress leader and former chief minister Digvijaya Singh will no longer lead the coordination committee like he did during the assembly election. For Lok Sabha polls AICC in charge Deepak Babaria has been appointed chairman of the 28-member coordination committee.

Chief Minister Kamal Nath, Guna MP Jyotiraditya Scindia, former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh, former leader of opposition Ajay Singh, Ratlam MP Kantilal Bhuria, former PCC presidents Suresh Pachauri and Arun Yadav, Rajya Sabha MPs Vivek Tankha and Rajmani Paterl are members of this committee that will mobilise Congress workers. AICC also formed a 29-member state election committee headed by Chief Minister Kamal Nath. The coordination committee also includes some ministers of the Kamal Nath government, including Bala Bachchan, Jitu Patwari, Govind Singh Rajput, Vijaylaxmi Sadho and Kamleshwar Patel. Digivjaya Singh not heading the coordination committee could mean that he could be fielded as party candidate from a parliamentary constituency.

Rahul Gandhi also appointed Lok Sabha manifesto committee to give recommendations for Madhya Pradesh. Former deputy speaker of the assembly Rajendra Singh has been made chairman of the manifesto committee, while Rajya Sabha MP and eminent lawyer Vivek Tankha will be vice-chairman. Former MP from Mandsaur constituency Meenakshi Natarjan has also been selected as vice-chairperson while former minister in the Digvijaya Singh government Narendra Nahata will be convenor.

This is the same manifesto committee that was appointed before last year’s assembly elections led by Rajendra Singh. Vivek Tankha Meenkshi Natarajan and Narendra Nahata were also part of the committee. The manifesto panel for the assembly elections had five members. The only person who does not figure in the Lok Sabha manifesto committee for the state is Virendra Kumar Batham who was a special invitee for the assembly election manifesto named “Vachan Patra”. AICC issued a press release signed by party general secretary KC Venugopal on Thursday evening. It said that Congress national President Rahul Gandhi has approved the ‘proposal of Madhya Pradesh Congress Manifesto Committee”.

In the four member manifesto committee, two members Meenakshi Natarajan and Narendra Nahata hail from Mandsaur the district where a farmers protest erupted in June 2017 and six persons lost their lives after police firing,

Meanwhile there is no respite to the controversy over invoking NSA to deal with the Cow slaughter crime. The latest to attack MP Government is BSP supremo Mayawati. Mayawati dubbed it ‘state terror’ and drew parallels between the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh and Yogi Adityanath’s BJP government in Uttar Pradesh.

With BSP’s support crucial to the Congress government in MP, most ministers chose not to comment on Mayawati’s statement. Home Minister Bala Bachchan explained that NSA was imposed because the accused were habitual offenders. “The law is doing its work” he said. State Congress media committee convener Narendra Saluja defended his party’s government and argued “Criminals and lawbreakers have no religion or caste. This issue should not be perceived from a religious angle”. BJP seemed to agree with Congress, with party state vice-president Vijesh Lunawat saying ”The law is equal for all, whether Hindu or Muslim. Whether NSA or any other law in the country anti-socials should not be protected. Anti-socials have no religion and they need to be dealt with under legal provisions. Mayawati has always believed in divisive politics- be it caste-wise or any other. BJP is a party that goes by the law”. (IPA Service)