MP Congress Overhaul Sparks Protests, Resignations

Bhopal: The move by the Congress leadership to overhaul its district units in Madhya Pradesh has triggered protests and resignations by the disgruntled party leaders.

The reconstitution of all the 71 organizational district units in the state, announced late on Saturday, came two months after Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi unveiled the roadmap to revive Congress in Madhya Pradesh.  Of the 71 new district presidents, three are former ministers, six are sitting MLAs, and 11 are former MLAs.

Fifty new district chiefs are fresh faces while the remaining 21 are repeats. For the first time, four women have been made district president, while 33 posts of district president have gone to the reserve categories: 12 OBCs, ten STs, eight SCs, and three from minority communities.

Public protests broke out at several places in the state with the dissidents taking to streets and social media to voice their opposition to the appointments of the new chiefs in their respective districts. Several party leaders have resigned from their posts and also the party in protest against the choice of new chiefs in their respective districts by the Congress leadership.

The protests were witnessed in the districts of Satna, Guna, Burhanpur, Dhar, Dewas and Dindori. Interestingly, Congress activists in Dindori were up in arms against the state party leadership for appointing the veteran tribal leader and MLA Omkar Markam as Dindori district president, describing it an insult to him ‘since, Mr. Markam is considered a prospective tribal chief minister of Madhya Pradesh’. 

Some Congress activists also protested the appointment of ‘outsiders’ as chiefs of their districts. Influential Congress leaders such as Pradesh Congress Committee president Jitu Patwari, former chief ministers Digvijay Singh and Kamal Nath, former Union minister Arun Yadav, and senior party leader Ajey Singh have been able to accommodate their loyalists in the posts of chiefs of district units in their respective areas of influence. Mr. Singh’s son Jaivardhan Singh, a sitting MLA, and his nephew Priyabrat Singh have been appointed district presidents in their respective areas.

Similarly, Mr. Nath has ensured that some of his loyalists are appointed district presidents.