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The Hindu
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Congress Party Launches Organisational Revival Campaign in Madhya Pradesh After Electoral Defeats
Published : Jun 05, 2025 11:47 IST - 8 MINS READ On June 3, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi addressed a packed auditorium in Bhopal's Ravindra Bhawan. The audience comprised leaders and workers from the Madhya Pradesh unit of the party and the occasion was the launch of the party's ambitious plan to restructure and re-energise its organisation in the politically crucial Hindi heartland State. Addressing the gathering, Gandhi said: 'The talent needed to defeat the BJP is present right here in this room. But your hands are tied. Your voice is not heard in the organisation.' The statement was greeted with a loud roar. The remark was apt since the event marked the launch of the party's 'Sangathan Srijan Abhiyan' (campaign to rejuvenate the organisation), which will focus on appointing a new set of district presidents and empowering them in an effort to decentralise decision-making. 'We want to transform the party, and a beginning will be made at the level of the district president. We want to bring in people who are totally committed to the party and are energetic,' Gandhi said. He further said: 'Race ke ghode ko aur baraat ke ghode ko alag karna padega [we will have to segregate race horses from show horses]...ek aur kism ka ghoda hota hai, langda ghoda, jise hum retire karenge [there is also a third category of horses, lame horses, who we will retire].' The principal opposition party has declared that 2025 will be dedicated to reviving its organisation, with Madhya Pradesh among the focus States. The choice is significant, as the party is locked in a direct contest with the BJP here—a contest it is increasingly finding difficult to win. The Congress dominated in Madhya Pradesh between 1957 and 1998, winning seven State elections. Chhattisgarh was carved out of Madhya Pradesh on November 1, 2000. Between 2000 and 2023, the Congress won only once, in 2018. The Congress government which was then formed under the chief ministership of Kamal Nath fell in 2020 when Jyotiraditya Scindia, along with MLAs loyal to him, left the Congress and joined the BJP. Also Read | What do you do with a 'Congress'man like Tharoor? In the 2023 Assembly election, the Congress won only 66 out of the 230 Legislative Assembly seats. In the 2024 Lok Sabha election, the party could not win even one of the 29 seats in the State, losing even Chhindwara, the Kamal Nath stronghold that had so far resisted the BJP's advance. The Vidisha factor In fact, Vidisha district, where the State unit of the party has launched a parallel programme to revive the grassroots organisation, offers a microcosm of the party's problems in Madhya Pradesh. Vidisha Lok Sabha constituency in Madhya Pradesh has been a saffron stronghold since it came into being in 1967. In the 1991 parliamentary election, BJP stalwart Atal Bihari Vajpayee reclaimed the Vidisha seat with a decisive victory, ending the eight-year interlude during which Congress leader Pratap Bhanu Sharma had represented the constituency in the Lok Sabha. Vajpayee vacated Vidisha, opting to be an MP from Lucknow. The seat has since then been won by top BJP leaders such as Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Sushma Swaraj. The story is not very different in the Assembly election, where the BJP has again dominated the proceedings. In the 2023 State election, out of the eight Legislative Assembly segments in the Vidisha Lok Sabha seat, the BJP won seven, and the Congress won only one. The Congress has won the Vidisha Assembly segment only twice since the 1960s. Although it held the Budhni Assembly constituency—part of the Vidisha Lok Sabha seat—for four consecutive terms beginning in 1980, Shivraj Singh Chouhan broke this streak in 1990, and the party has failed to reclaim the seat since. Vidisha tells a story of how it is becoming increasingly difficult for the Congress to defeat the BJP in direct contests in the Hindi heartland. It also shows how staying out of power for long makes it very difficult to stage a comeback. It is in Vidisha that the Congress has now launched a pilot project to revive its organisation. It also believes that the experience in the district will provide a blueprint for restructuring the State unit. If the Vidisha plan is successful, it will be replicated in the other 54 districts in the State. The party is working to create a new level of functionaries at the grassroots—a panchayat committee in the rural areas and a ward committee in the urban centres. Vidisha has 577 gram panchayats and 139 urban wards. The Vidisha project began on May 22 and was expected to go on for around a month. The panchayat committee and the ward committee, with 14 members each, would form a new level in the party hierarchy in addition to the existing three levels—sector, mandalam and booth. Congress veteran Kamal Nath had introduced the mandalam level when he took over as State Congress president in 2018. 'Around 100 trained observers have fanned out in Vidisha to identify workers, leaders and non-aligned individuals who are committed to the Congress's ideology and are capable of taking the party's message to the people. These observers will also study the issues that hamper the party's work on the ground,' said Manoj Kapoor, State Congress secretary and in charge of Vidisha. The exercise is also expected to help the party identify workers who can be included in frontal organisations such as the Youth Congress and the Mahila Congress. 'Vidisha used to be a BJP stronghold, and we had succeeded in breaking the trend. However, things changed after Atalji came here and won the seat. I am hopeful that now, with the party focusing on reviving the organisation, we can make a comeback in Vidisha and elsewhere in the State,' said State Congress Vice President Pratap Bhanu Sharma, who won the Vidisha Lok Sabha seat in 1980 and 1984 before it swung back to the BJP. Simultaneously, the AICC has launched the 'Sangathan Srijan Abhiyan' to revive the organisation and empower the functionaries at the lower rungs of the party. A total of 61 observers have been appointed by the AICC who will for the next three months camp in the districts assigned to them, and they have been given the task of understanding the strengths and weaknesses in the party's functioning at that level. The exercise is in keeping with the Congress leadership's avowed focus on decentralising decision-making by empowering the district presidents and making the District Congress Committees the main centre of activities such as providing inputs on selection of candidates and planning outreach programmes. A special meeting of the Congress Working Committee in Belagavi, Karnataka on December 26, 2024, and the AICC Session in Ahmedabad on April 9, 2025 resolved that the year 2025 would be utilised by the party as 'a year of organisational empowerment'. Gandhi has selected Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh as model States to carry out an organisational revamp. What is common between the two States from the Congress's point of view is that elections in both the States are a direct contest between the Congress and the BJP and the organisation in both the States has been weakened considerably over the last few decades. Devoid of power, the Congress has found it difficult in the two States to enthuse its workers while many leaders have left the party to join the BJP. 'A major task for the observers is to identify workers and leaders who are committed to the party and those who are not. There are around 28 lakh Congress workers in Madhya Pradesh. However, there are many workers who may not be very active on the ground or working for the organisation 24x7. There are also many workers who are aligned to leaders rather than the party. For example, there were workers who were loyal to Jyotiraditya Scindia and left with him,' said Sanjay Kamle, State Congress general secretary and State in charge of organisation. The central observers, aided by a team of State-level observers selected by Madhya Pradesh Congress, will identify party functionaries working on the ground who can be appointed as district presidents. Also Read | What the caste census could do to Bihar's election math 'The Congress organisation becomes active only on the eve of elections. We want to put in place a team that should always be active. They should be alive to the issues of the people. The people are really upset with the Modi government. There are issues of unemployment and price rise. The BJP's attempts to take credit for Operation Sindoor is not going down well with the people. The only way to tap this anger is going to the people at the district level,' said Sharma. The appointment of Patwari, known to be close to Gandhi, was seen as marking the end of the dominance of leaders like Nath and former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh. Rajasthan Congress leader Harish Chaudhary, also known to enjoy the confidence of Gandhi, was appointed as AICC in charge of the State. However, Patwari is said to be facing resistance from other leaders and bringing different factions together is a big challenge for him. 'Factions are there in every party, and until a certain point, the competition between them is actually good for the party. After all, everyone is working under the party flag. However, if it begins to harm the interests of the party, there is definitely a problem. Our government fell because of this. However, right now, factionalism is not such a serious issue. The main issue for us is survival,' said Kamle. It is an uphill task for the Congress to rebuild its organisation in Madhya Pradesh and tougher still to get its house in order.
Time of India
3 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Govt taking loan, spending it on luxuries, says Kamal Nath
Bhopal: Bhopal: Former CM Kamal Nath on Thursday came down heavily on the Mohan Yadav govt for applying for a fresh loan of Rs 4,500 from the Centre. The Congress veteran alleged that the loans taken are not being used for either the youth or farmers. He said rather it was being utilised for the purchase of "luxuries" of the BJP govt and its leaders, and the public was getting crushed under the burden of inflation day after day. Taking to 'X', he said, "The BJP govt of Madhya Pradesh is drowning the state in a quagmire of debt. The state govt has started the process of taking a new loan of Rs 4,500 crore from the Centre." Nath argued, "With this new loan, the state will have a debt of Rs 4.3 lakh crore which is much more than its annual budget of Rs 4,21,032 crore. MP govt has not taken any initiative to reduce wasteful expenditure and reduce the debt burden on the treasury. " He alleged that the loans were not being utilised to provide employment, increasing the financial assistance to Ladli Behnas or for the economic welfare of the weaker sections. "Despite taking so much loan, BJP govt has not even given MSP for wheat and paddy to farmers as was promised during the elections. Moong dal farmers are protesting in the state, but moong is not even being purchased at MSP," the former CM said. "If the loan is not being used for welfare, then where is this money being spent?" he asked.
Hans India
3 days ago
- Business
- Hans India
Cong raises apprehensions over growing debt as MP Govt seeks another loan from Centre
As the Chief Minister Mohan Yadav-led Madhya Pradesh government is all set to borrow Rs. 4,500 crore from the Centre, the Opposition Congress raised apprehensions that with this new loan, the state's total debt of Rs 4.30 lakh crore will cross its annual budget of Rs. 4,21,032 crore. The Congress accused the BJP-led government of pushing Madhya Pradesh into a quagmire of debt and not taking any steps to bring the borrowings down and instead indulging in luxuries like buying new planes, cars and renovating bungalows of ministers. The Congress slammed the Madhya Pradesh government of not taking any initiatives to reduce wasteful expenditure on luxuries of its own in the midst of a financial crunch. The criticism came after the Chief Minister Mohan Yadav government on Tuesday initiated formalities for a fresh loan of Rs 4,500 crore from the Centre, its second borrowing this financial year. With this fresh loan, the state's total debt went past the Rs 4.30 lakh crore mark, which is well beyond its annual budget of Rs 4,21,032 crore presented for the current financial year. The total debt of Madhya Pradesh was Rs 4,21,740 crore as on March 31. "Despite taking huge amounts of loans, the BJP government has not even given the Minimum Support Price on crops to the farmers. If this loan is being said to be used for the welfare of farmers and the youth of the state, then where is this money being spent," veteran Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath said in a statement on Thursday. 'While the Madhya Pradesh government has often maintained that the loans taken are being utilised for financing productive development programmes and projects in the state, the borrowings mainly bear the cost of development and welfare schemes. 'However, despite the rising loan burden, the Madhya Pradesh government has not hesitated in buying a state plane and new cars for ministers and renovating ministers' bungalows,' he said. 'On July 10 last year, the Madhya Pradesh government cleared a proposal to buy a jet plane worth over Rs 230 crore. "This loan money is being spent on the luxuries of the BJP government and its leaders. While the public is being crushed under the burden of inflation day by day," Kamal Nath further added.
India.com
4 days ago
- Business
- India.com
Racehorse, Wedding Horse, and Lame Horse....Time To Retire...: Rahul Gandhis Veiled Message To MP Congress Leaders
Madhya Pradesh Congress Revival: Congress leader and former party president Rahul Gandhi gave a rare no-holds-barred advice to Madhya Pradesh party leaders, indirectly putting many of them on the chopping block. For many of the Madhya Pradesh Congress leaders, it's going to be the Hobson's choice, if the party puts Rahul Gandhi's advice to the work. Notably, the Madhya Pradesh Congress faced its worst performance in the previous assembly polls and since then, has made many key changes that included replacing Kamal Nath, one of the veteran Congress leaders from the state, as state party president, giving the reigns to young leader Jitu Patwari. Speaking at a party meeting, Rahul Gandhi said that there used to be two kinds of leaders in the party - racehorses and wedding horses and the Congress used to send racehorses to weddings and wedding horses to races. "We have to segregate racehorses and wedding horses. Earlier, I used to say, that there is a racehorse, and Congress sends the racehorses to weddings. Another is a wedding horse and the party sends it to races. Kamal Nath also said this. If the horse is whipped, it sits down in the race. Earlier there used to be these two categories, now there is a third type as well, it's a lame horse. It's time to retire the lame horses," said Rahul Gandhi, in a veiled warning, which can be seen as a message to Kamal Nath and other veterans whom the Congress thinks that they are not doing enough for the party. #BreakingNews: राहुल गांधी का कांग्रेस नेताओं पर तंज, नेताओं की चुनावी क्षमताओं पर किया कटाक्ष#RahulGandhi #Congress | @Chandans_live — Zee News (@ZeeNews) June 4, 2025 Rahul Gandhi further said that those who will become district presidents of Congress in Madhya Pradesh will be the ones leading the party in the state in the future. "The work of the new district presidents will be evaluated in several ways, such as- are the votes for the Congress party increasing or not? Is the district president taking everyone along? When an attack happens on a Dalit or tribal in the district, was the Congress present there or not? Along with this, district presidents will be given many responsibilities and powers. The voice of district presidents will be heard in local elections and in the selection of MLAs and MPs. If anyone thinks they can sideline the district presidents and move forward in the Congress party, they are mistaken," said Gandhi, laying out the Gujarat-Congress-like plan for reviving the party in Madhya Pradesh. Rahul Gandhi further said that whoever protects the ideology of the Congress Party and works to advance the Congress Party in the state will get support from the central leadership. "The day you make up your mind to uproot and throw out the BJP, that day you will push the BJP aside. Wherever you call me, I will be there," affirmed the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
India Gazette
5 days ago
- Business
- India Gazette
"Need to differentiate between race horse, wedding horse, and langda horse": Rahul Gandhi on plans to revamp party's Madhya Pradesh unit
Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) [India], June 4 (ANI): Seeking to revamp the party's Madhya Pradesh unit as part of party's Sangathan Srijan Abhiyan, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday used the example of horses to differentiate between workers and leaders who are slogging for the party and those who are not and need to retire. Rahul Gandhi, who is Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, first illustrated the difference between a 'wedding horse' and a 'race horse' and how state sometimes party leaders fit one for the other, resulting in total mismatch and electoral losses. He also talked of 'unfit horses' and on the need for tired party leaders to make way for younger lot. He said those who cannot slog should not remain there as stumbling blocks. 'Now we have to differentiate between a race horse and a wedding horse and lame (langda) district president has come here, and there will be some of you who work for the Congress party with full strength and there will be some who are a little tired or who are not in a good mood, who are taking too much tension. Now we have to differentiate between a race horse and a wedding horse. Earlier, I used to say that there are two types. Kamal Nath had said that the Congress party sometimes sends a race horse to the wedding procession and sometimes makes the wedding horse stand in the race line. But there is a third category, which is a lame (langda) horse, so we have to differentiate. We have to retire the lame horse, so this change has to be brought,' he said. Congress has faced successive electoral defeats in Madhya Pradesh. Rahul Gandhi talked of empowering the district presidents, making them a fulcrum of party's revival. He gave an inkling of the work expected from the new district chiefs. 'The new district president will be different from the previous will measure their performance in an objective way, whether votes are increasing in local body, MLA, and MP elections. Wherever there is an attack on Congress ideology, if a Dalit, Adivasi or backward class, poor general caste woman is beaten up or suppressed, if Congress party is standing there or there is a good relationship between worker and leader,' he said. (ANI)
