A serious warning was served by several BJP leaders including Kailash Joshi, Lok Sabha member and former Chief Minister, while speaking at the first meeting of the election committee of the Madhya Pradesh BJP. Senior ministers were among other those who expressed concern over the growing factionalism in the party. Besides expressing concern over factionalism, they also warned about the adverse impact of the non-implementation of the liberal promises made by the Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan.

The most serious warning came from Kailash Joshi. It must be noted that Joshi spoke in the presence of Anantha Kumar, BJP national general secretary in charge for Madhya Pradesh.

Kailash Joshi, who was very articulate during the meeting, said in plain terms that the party was divided vertically and horizontally in many districts and it was at the receiving end. Joshi warned that if this state of affairs was not addressed, then the party, irrespective of forming the government for the third time, might face a situation similar to Samajwadi party (SP) government in Uttar Pradesh, where there is no coordination between the president father and the chief minister son.

Joshi clearly said the possibility of benefits from the government-sponsored 'Annapurna Yojana' is thin as availability of food grains at cheaper rates was causing severe shortage of agricultural workers. He said assuring people of getting a month's ration for a day's wage would not help in elections. The former chief minister further commented giving pattas (land ownership rights) to slum dwellers was resulting in encroachment and such schemes would not help much.

He said there were three types of workers in the party. The first type was getting benefits through government; the second, through party organisation; and, the third type are those who are principled. He said the third type of party workers were not happy with the present scenario.

Panchayat and rural development minister Gopal Bhargava, questioned banking on government schemes to win elections. He said elections were contested – and lost –on the development plank in the past. Bhargava suggested that some 'emotive issue' should also be made a poll plank to win elections. He said former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee too worked for 'Antyodaya' and 'Anna Yojana' but the party lost elections.

Bhargava said the silence maintained by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the tragic incident in Kedarnath could be used as an emotional issue for the elections.

The national secretary Sudha Mallaiya suggested getting maximum BPL cards made before election code of conduct coming into effect. Senior leader Vikram Verma opposed her, arguing that there was no need for increasing the number of BPL card holders as there was already a dispute between the Centre and state over the list of BPL families and the state was being sanctioned a mere 20 kg of wheat per poor person. Home minister Umashankar Gupta too said he got only 60 per cent votes in a polling booth, where he got ration cards of 99 per cent voters made. Former Union minister Prahlad Patel said election expenditure must be regulated from now itself as the election commission was adopting a tough stand.

Agriculture minister Ramkrishna Kusumaria and the Indore mayor Krishna Murari Moghe suggested to extern anti-social elements, who could influence voters. MP Sumitra Mahajan said something on the lines of Gujrarat chief minister Narendra Modi should be done in the state, who conducted one 'Upwaas' programme in Sabarmati turning the environment in his favour.

While BJP was busy trying to formulate strategy for the Vidhan Sabha election due in November this year, Congressmen created an ugly scene at the meeting held in the presence of AICC observers. The Congress is sending observers to various Vidhan Sabha constituencies to get the pulse of the party workers about the nominee for Vidhan Sabha elections. Such an exercise was done in Bhopal. Bhopal has six Vidhan Sabha constituencies; out of them five are represented by the BJP nominees and the sixth by the Congress. The Congress MLA is a Muslim. He happens to be sole Muslim member of the 230-strong Madhya Pradesh Assembly. KS Dhillon from Punjab was sent to Bhopal to assess the suitability of party workers for the six Vidhan Sabha constituencies. Huge crowd of partymen gathered at the office of the Bhopal District Congress committee. The crowd comprised followers of various aspirants. Loud slogan shouting continued for hours. 'DCC office turns into wrestling ring as aspirants beat rivals; indiscipline, exchange of abuses, shows of strength mar observer's visit' was the headline of the report of the happenings at the DCC office in a local newspaper.

The AICC observer had a first-hand experience of infighting in the Congress workers. Partymen clashed even in the room where he was collecting workers' feedback for candidates.

Dhillon had to make effort to maintain discipline. He stopped party workers from shouting slogans in favour of individuals. Dipti Singh, former youth Congress ticket with a procession of around 100 vehicles. Various other leaders showed their strength. Leader of opposition in BMC Mohammed Saggir reached with Sikh community people to get favour from Dhillon, who too is a Sikh.

Reports of such ugly scenes are coming from other districts. Meanwhile, Mohan Prakash has been appointed as new AICC observer for Madhya Pradesh, replacing Hari Prasad. Prakash reached Bhopal on June 26 on his maiden visit. He was to attend the extended meeting of the Pradesh Congress committee. But the meeting was cancelled because of the demise of Subash Yadav, who was Deputy Chief Minster in the cabinet led by Digvijaya Singh. Mohan Prakash during his maiden must have realised how difficult task it is to handle Madhya Pradesh affairs. The party is greatly divided both at the top and grassroots level. The only silver lining is that the BJP is also slowly competing with the Congress as for factionalism is concerned. (IPA Service)