Madhya Pradesh: Political history
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
Contents |
Political lineage
See graphic:
Political Lineage
The BJP era
Sumitra requested Congress MLAs to raise issues
Dec 3, 2019 The Times of India
Former Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan set political circles aflutter on Monday by saying she could not speak up against the erstwhile BJP government in Madhya Pradesh, and used to request Congress’s Jitu Patwari and Tulsiram Silawat — both minsters in the Kamal Nath government now — to raise important issues.
The state Congress hit out at BJP, saying that after Rahul Bajaj, now a BJP veteran has confirmed there is “lack democracy in BJP rule”. TNN
ICDS scam
2017: Immunity to corporate
Rahul Noronha , Loan wolves “India Today” 17/4/2017
When Uma Bharti became MP chief minister in 2003, the ICDS scam was the stick she used to beat the previous Digvijaya Singh government with. More than a decade later, the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government has announced an amnesty scheme for corporate groups who owe the state-run MP State Industries Development Corporation (MPSIDC) for loans it extended under the Inter Corporate Deposit Scheme (ICDS).
Between 1995 and 2001, MPSIDC borrowed money from banks and forwarded them as loans under ICDS to 42 corporate groups. Not only did this violate a 1994 cabinet decision forbidding MPSIDC from disbursing loans, public servants also flouted rules in sanctioning such loans. Amounting to about Rs 400 crore then, the dues have now gone up to Rs 4,000 crore, including interest. At least 20 of these corporates have cases by the state's Economic Offences Wing pending against them.
Under the new amnesty scheme announced by the state industries department last month, corporate defaulters have been asked to submit proposals to repay the MPSIDC. If approved, it would ensure no further criminal action is to be taken against them, provided dues were repaid before June 30, 2017.
"It seems unfair that criminal action should be taken against someone willing to repay the money," says state industries minister Rajendra Shukla. "We have corrected that. A one-time settlement scheme was brought in earlier too, we have just fixed a final date to it." He was referring to the earlier 2004 settlement scheme, under which 18 companies had paid up money.
Facing criticism that immunity from criminal action would weaken ongoing cases, Shukla said, "There'll be no impact on cases already in court." The 18 corporate groups that had repaid dues under the earlier scheme had not been given immunity. "Why won't they ask for it now," asks an EOW officer.
In the legal opinion he had given at the time, then state advocate general R.N. Singh had said settlement and criminal action were separate things. The state government seems to have overlooked that piece of advice.
A handy political tool, the EOW was tasked with trying to find out if former CM Digvijaya Singh and former industries ministers Rajendra Singh and Narendra Nahata had a role in the ICDS scam. Chouhan used it to cut short former chief secretary Vijay Singh's tenure. A number of senior civil servants too have been booked in the case. Yet, 13 years on, there has been no conviction. The state government seems more keen on settling matters rather than raking them up. Could the ICDS scam have outlived its political utility.
Legislative Assembly
Handbook on ‘unparliamentary’ words
Ankur Sirothia, July 15, 2021: The Times of India
‘Pappu’ is off Madhya Pradesh legislators’ lexicon. So is ‘Feku’. They have been listed as ‘unparliamentary’ in a dictionary of sorts that MLAs here will be given to make them aware of what words to avoid if the coming monsoon session goes on the boil.
Within a fortnight, MLAs will undergo two days of mandatory training on avoiding unparliamentary language in the House, Speaker Girish Gautam said. The handbook — the first such in MP — is ready and will be given to legislators any day. The monsoon session begins on August 9.
“Often, MLAs use unparliamentary words in the House, which have to be expunged from their address. The purpose of this exercise is to inform members of the words they must not use in assembly,” Gautam said. There are approximately 300 such words in the handbook. Among the printable ones are ‘murkh, chor, nalayak and bewakoof ’. Interestingly, ‘jhooth’ (lie) is also considered unparliamentary.
Officials said it took three months to come up with the list and prepare the handbook. It will help maintain decorum in the House, said the Speaker. Lok Sabha already has a list of words not to be used, and this was a ready reckoner for the MP handbook. With no love lost between the two main parties, especially since the toppling of the Congress government, things may get heated when MLAs come face to face.
Legislative assembly: dy speaker
2019: 29-yr-old tradition broken
Suchandana Gupta & Rajendra Sharma, January 11, 2019: The Times of India
Congress won the Deputy speaker’s post, breaking a 29-year-old tradition of the Madhya Pradesh assembly to offer the chair to the Opposition. However, the BJP now wants to approach the President and move a no-confidence motion against Congress for using “unfair process” in the election of the posts.
The BJP’s proposal for candidature of Jagdeesh Dewra was mentioned but not accepted. After protests by BJP, Heena Likhiram Kavre was elected Deputy Speaker. She has been an MLA from Lanji assembly seat twice. “We are unhappy that tradition has been broken, but BJP started it,” CM Kamal Nath told reporters .
As per the tradition, set in the 1990s, the Speaker is appointed by the ruling party while the deputy speaker is given to the Opposition. However, with 109 MLAs, BJP wanted to show its strength in the House and asked for an election for the Speaker’s post.
Rampath Gaman
2007-18
Congress believes following in the footsteps of Lord Ram will lead them from ‘vanwas’ (exile) to power. What BJP promised in 2007 — retrace Lord Ram’s travels in Madhya Pradesh — Congress has vowed to implement before the assembly election.
Congress will embark on ‘Rampath Gaman’ on September 21, with party stalwarts Kamal Nath, Digvijaya Singh, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Suresh Pachauri and Ajay Singh leading the trail through five MP districts and 35 assembly seats. They will start from the Sphatik Shila in Chitrakoot, the rock where Lord Ram and Sita are supposed to have rested, and move on towards Ramghat in Jabalpur, passing through Gupt Godavari, Sati Anusuya Temple, and the famed Maihar Temple in Satna.
On October 1, 2007, the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government announced ‘Ram Gaman Path’ to trace the route that the Lord took during 11of the 14 years of exile. He is believed to have passed through the districts of Satna, Panna, Shahdol, Jabalpur and Vidisha. The mission was to be led and implemented by R-S-S functionary and former Union minister Anil Madhav Dave. The promise, however, remained unfulfilled and Dave passed away on May 18, 2017.
Now, Congress has vowed to complete BJP’s unfulfilled pledge. The Congress Ram yatra will take 19 days, passing through the districts of Satna, Rewa, Panna, Chhattarpur and Shahdol. It was LoP Ajay Singh who, in July this year, wanted to know why the government had failed to get going on Ram Gaman Path. “Why deceive people in the name of Ram?” he had questioned.
R-S-S shakhas, govt offices, govt. servants
1981, 2000, 2018
Won’t Allow Govt Staff To Attend Shakhas, Says Cong In MP Manifesto
A day after Madhya Pradesh Congress released its manifesto in which it pledged to ban R-S-S shakhas in government offices, BJP called the move a bid to impose Emergency in the state. Congress countered saying it only wants to “restore the law”.
Buried deep within a section titled ‘general administration reforms’ in the manifesto, a single line says that if voted to power, the Congress government will bar R-S-S shakhas in government buildings and also revoke the order that allows government employees to attend R-S-S sessions.
After the manifesto was released, senior Congress member Digvijaya Singh said: “All government employees must remember what Congress has assured in its Vachan Patra (manifesto). If voted to power, no government employee will be allowed to attend R-S-S sessions.”
Reacting to this, BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra said: “It seems Congress these days has only one motto — ‘Mandir nahi banne denge, shakha nahi chalne denge’ (Won’t allow Ram temple to be built and won’t allow R-S-S sessions to run). The party is trying to impose emergency in the state. Congress should apologise for such remarks.”
Congress first imposed such a ban in 1981, which Digvijaya revived in 2000 when he was CM of Madhya Pradesh. Interestingly, the ban survived nearly three years of the BJP government — under Uma Bharti, Babulal Gaur and Shivraj Chouhan — until Chouhan revoked it in September 2006, describing R-S-S as a socio-cultural organisation and not a political entity.
MPCC chief Kamal Nath explained that the manifesto does not call for a ban on R-S-S, as was reported in some sections of the media, but seeks to restrict participation of government employees in R-S-S sessions. “BJP has picked up some lines from the Congress manifesto and raked up a controversy. It’s playing a political drama ahead of elections. In the name of ban on R-S-S, it is trying to instigate certain sentiments,” said Kamal Nath.
Attacking the opposition party, Patra said: “It was Congress that called Naxals ‘revolutionaries’ and linked R-S-S to Muslim brotherhood. Now, they are against Ram temple and R-S-S sessions, too. Only BJP favours the construction of Ram temple and will fulfil the promise through constitutional process. Other parties play politics. Congress leader Digvijaya Singh dubbed Ram Janmbhoomi a ‘disputed site’ and used foul language to instigate sentiments. He mourns the killing of terrorist Osama and used honorifics ‘ji’ for him. But, it was R-S-S who helped people of Kerala during severe flood.”
YEAR-WISE DEVELOPMENTS
1956- 2020
Shyamlal Yadav, Nov 16, 2023: The Indian Express
A large new state of Madhya Pradesh was created in the heart of India in 1956 with the merger of five different regions — Central Provinces and Berar with its capital in Nagpur; Madhya Bharat, which included the prominent princely states of Gwalior and Indore; Vindhya Pradesh, which comprised Bundelkhand and Baghelkhand; the princely state of Bhopal; and the Sironj tehsil of south-eastern Rajasthan’s Kota district (which is currently part of Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh).
In its report, the States Reorganisation Commission argued for a “compact, strong and prosperous unit in Central India”. The Congress leader Ravishankar Shukla, who belonged to Raipur, became the first Chief Minister of the new state, with its capital at Bhopal.
After Chhattisgarh was hived off as a separate state in 2000, the Madhya Pradesh of today came into existence. It has a unicameral legislature of 230 seats, and 29 Lok Sabha and 11 Rajya Sabha seats.
Strong Cong, emerging BJS
Chief Minister Ravishankar Shukla passed away in Delhi on December 31, 1956. He was in the capital to meet the Congress leadership ahead of the Assembly elections of 1957, and was apparently told that he would not get a party ticket. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru is said to have been annoyed with the political activities of four of Shukla’s six sons.
At the AICC session in Indore from January 6-8, 1957, the name of Nehru’s Defence Minister Kailash Nath Katju was floated for the CM’s post. Katju took charge in Bhopal on January 31.
Though the Congress dominated, the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), precursor of the BJP, was active in the state from the beginning. The R S S ideologue Dattopant Thengdi was among the early pracharaks deployed in the BJS in Madhya Pradesh.
A CM loses, Cong falls short
The Congress suffered a setback in the Assembly polls of 1962. Amid increasing differences between the government and the state Congress organisation under Moolchand Deshlehra, Chief Minister Katju lost in Jaora to the young BJS candidate Lakshmi Narayan Pandey. The Congress won only 142 seats, falling short of a majority in the 288-member House. Deshlehra was forced to resign.
While Katju entered the Assembly after another MLA gave up his seat for him, the CM’s post went to Bhagwant Rao Mandloi, an educationist from Khandwa. But in 1963, under the Kamaraj Plan — a suggestion by K Kamaraj that all senior Congress leaders give up their ministerial posts and devote their energies to the organisation — Mandloi was asked to resign.
He was succeeded in the post by the veteran leader D P Mishra, head of an old political family and a good friend of the first CM, Ravishankar Shukla. Mishra was the father of IFS officer Brajesh Mishra, who played a very important role in the government of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
1967: first non-Cong Govt
In the years that followed, Mishra — a man who had once left the Congress following differences with Nehru — grew increasingly close to Indira Gandhi. Indira had become PM in 1966, and Mishra was among those who had helped her fight off the challenge from the party old guard.
Meanwhile, the BJS was becoming stronger, and some socialists and erstwhile royalty like Gwalior’s Vijayaraje Scindia — who had serious differences with Mishra — had joined the party. The Congress survived the opposition wave of 1967 — when non-Congress governments were formed in more than a dozen other states — but the BJS won 78 of the 296 seats in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly.
D P Mishra continued as CM, but in July 1967, four months after the election results were declared, the Congress split. Govind Narain Singh, who had been left out of Mishra’s ministry, broke away with his faction of MLAs, and became Chief Minister of the Samyukta Vidhayak Dal (SVD) government, the first non-Congress government in Madhya Pradesh.
Govind Narain Singh, however, lasted less than two years in the post — he was succeeded by Naresh Chandra Singh, who belonged to a tribal dynasty from the Chhattisgarh region.
Govts during Emergency
The first tribal Chief Minister ruled for less than two weeks. Shyama Charan Shukla, the son of the first Chief Minister, was eying the chair, and many SVD MLAs who had left the Congress with Govind Narain Singh, were looking to return. The Congress returned to power in the state, with Shukla as CM.
After the 1972 Assembly elections, Indira picked Prakash Chandra Sethi, the MLA from Ujjain, over Shukla to be CM. Meanwhile, Sanjay Gandhi was becoming an increasingly powerful figure in Delhi. Sethi had an uneasy relationship with Sanjay and, months after the proclamation of the Emergency in June 1975, he was replaced by Shukla, one of Sanjay’s favourite henchmen. Something similar took place in Uttar Pradesh as well, where H N Bahuguna was replaced by N D Tiwari.
Shyama Charan Shukla was one of the few Indian CMs whose fathers too occupied the post — some other examples being Biju and Naveen Patnaik, Devi Lal and Om Prakash Chautala, Mulayam Singh and Akhilesh Yadav, H D Deve Gowda and H D Kumaraswamy, Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, and M Karunanidhi and M K Stalin.
In the post-Emergency election of 1977, the Congress was reduced to 84 seats in the 320-member House. But the Janata Party government faced the same fate as the SVD government from a decade earlier. The state had three CMs — Kailash Chandra Joshi, Virendra Kumar Saklecha, and Sundarlal Patwa — in less than three years, and the SVD government was dismissed soon after Indira returned as Prime Minister in January 1980.
Arjun Singh & Motilal Vora
In the Assembly elections of 1980, the Congress won 246 of the 320 seats. The BJS had reinvented itself as the BJP, and the new party won 60 seats. Along with Rajiv Gandhi, who had become active in politics after Sanjay’s death, Indira chose Arjun Singh, the MLA from Churhat in Sidhi district, to be Chief Minister.
From 1980 to 1989, Madhya Pradesh had five Congress Chief Ministers — Arjun Singh and Motilal Vora occupied the post twice each before Shyama Charan Shukla came back as CM for a short third stint. Arjun Singh and Vora remained active in central politics until their deaths. Singh was among the most secular faces of the Congress and, as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s HRD Minister, he was instrumental in implementing 27 per cent reservation for OBCs in educational institutions.
1990: BJP forms its first Govt
Assembly elections were held in early 1990. The Congress lost — like in UP a few months previously. The BJP got a historic mandate, winning 220 of the 320 seats, and Sundarlal Patwa became CM.
The BJP also formed governments of its own in UP (Kalyan Singh), Rajasthan (Bhairon Singh Shekhawat), and Himachal Pradesh (Shanta Kumar). All four governments were dismissed by Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao after the Babri Masjid was demolished in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992.
A decade of Digvijaya Singh
In the elections of 1993, the BJP was reduced to 117 seats. With Arjun Singh a Minister in the Rao government and Vora a Governor, the position of CM in Bhopal went to Digvijaya Singh of the erstwhile royal family of Raghogarh. Digvijaya remained in power for two full terms until 2003 — by then, Arjun Singh had quit the Congress, and the NDA government under Vajpayee had split Madhya Pradesh into two. By the end of its 10 years, Digvijaya’s government was highly unpopular.
Uma Bharti, Shivraj Singh Chouhan
In 2003, the BJP could not quite capitalise on the huge anti-incumbency against Digvijaya Singh’s Congress government. Uma Bharti, Minister in Vajpayee’s government, contested the election, and Shivraj Singh Chouhan, MP from Vidisha, the seat once represented by Vajpayee, was fielded against Digvijaya. The BJP won a majority of 173 seats in the 230-member post-Chhattisgarh Assembly, and the Congress was reduced to just 38 seats, even though Digvijaya himself managed to win. Uma Bharti, who had shot to prominence during the Ramjanmabhoomi movement, became CM.
However, an old case forced Bharti to give up the post in August 2004. Leaders of the central BJP had wanted her to hand the baton to Chouhan, but she agreed only to the septuagenarian Babulal Gaur. In a little more than a year, however, with the tussle among the second-rung leadership of the BJP at its peak, Gaur was made to resign, and Chouhan took oath as CM. Bharti took all of this very badly, and over the next decade, she was expelled from the party and taken back twice.
Chouhan went on to serve continuously from 2005 to 2018.
Since 2018; looking at 2023
In the tight election of 2018, the Congress won 114 seats, and the BJP 109. The year after he lost in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Jyotiraditya Scindia left the party his father, Madhavrao Scindia, had served, and subsequently joined the party that his grandmother, Vijayaraje, had co-founded. This brought down the Congress government of Kamal Nath, and Chouhan returned as CM in March 2020.
Veterans Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh, calling themselves Jai-Veeru after the iconic duo from Sholay, are now locked in a high-stakes battle against the BJP led by Chouhan. The Congress expects to do well, and hopes the 2023 Assembly election will provide positive indications for the Lok Sabha battle of 2024.
2018
Five 'babas' get minister of state status
April 4, 2018: The Times of India
HIGHLIGHTS
The MoS status has been accorded to Narmadanand Maharaj, Hariharanand Maharaj, Computer Baba, Bhayyu Maharaj and Pandit Yogendra Mahant.
On March 31, these five religious leaders were appointed to a committee set up for the conservation of the Narmada river.
As members of the committee, they have been given the MoS status, an official said.
The state government on Tuesday accorded the minister of state (MoS) status to five Hindu religious leaders, a move which was slammed by the opposition Congress. The MoS status has been accorded to Narmadanand Maharaj, Hariharanand Maharaj, Computer Baba, Bhayyu Maharaj and Pandit Yogendra Mahant.
On March 31, these five religious leaders were appointed to a committee set up for the conservation of the Narmada river. As members of the committee, they have been given the MoS status, a GAD official said on Tuesday. However, Congress dubbed the decision as an attempt by the BJP to exploit religious sentiments of people for political gains.
“It's a political gimmick. This is also an effort by the chief minister to wash off his sins. He ignored conservation of the Narmada. These saints should inspect where the state government has planted six crore saplings (along the river banks) as claimed by the CM,” said Congress spokesperson Pankaj Chaturvedi.
State BJP spokesperson Rajnish Agrawal, however, said the opposition Congress dislikes anything done in reverence to saints. “Saints and seers were accorded the MoS status to make their work of environment and river conservation more easy. They were largely roped in for the Narmada conservation work to ensure more public participation,” Agrawal said.
Pre-poll amnesty to criminals, as in 2005 and 2012
Rajendra Sharma, Pre-poll amnesty to MP thugs, July 11, 2018: The Times of India
Four months ahead of state assembly polls, the MP government announced amnesty to petty criminals and undertrials from impoverished backgrounds.
“The government will begin the process of withdrawing cases... and instructions will be issued to district collectors and SPs to prepare a list of such cases by July 31,” chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said. Habitual offenders will not be freed.
Sources said amnesty will be given in petty crimes pending in court for 10 years or longer. “How many cases will actually be withdrawn is yet to be calculated,” said a senior police officer.
The decision, though surprising to many, isn’t unprecedented in Madhya Pradesh. In 2005, the then CM Babulal Gaur had withdrawn 64,000 cases against criminals, followed by 18,000 more in 2012 when he was law minister of the state.
Why the Cong- BSP alliance did not materialise
Subodh Ghildiyal, How jumbo went out of Cong’s hand, October 5, 2018: The Times of India
Inside Story Of How Party Tried For Tie-Up With BSP In MP Till Last Moment
Till the last moment, the Congress brass nudged its reluctant MP unit to stitch an alliance with BSP for state elections, a surprise development which resulted in revival of talks and a final round of talks being finalised for Wednesday night.
The eagerness was such that Rahul Gandhi called MP unit head Kamal Nath on Wednesday afternoon and suggested that a last-ditch effort be made. It led to hurried scheduling of talks between Nath and BSP general secretary and key Mayawati aide Satish Chandra Mishra. Congress’s data analytics department chief Praveen Chakravartty was also drafted in to make an analysis of the list of 30 seats that BSP was demanding, sources said.
Party leaders were surprised at the resurrection of talks given that Mayawati had announced 22 candidates for MP and dealt a blow to Congress by tying up with Ajit Jogi in Chhattisgarh. On Wednesday, Congress was in for a bigger jolt as Mayawati, hours before the revived talks, went public with an acerbic outburst, accusing Congress of arrogance and announcing there would be no partnership in MP and Rajasthan.
By insider accounts, there was a yawning gap between the central leadership and the state unit over tie-up with BSP. While Rahul appeared driven by the belief that an early tieup would help seal the ‘mahagatbandhan’ in UP for the 2019 elections, state strategists felt it was “impractical”. Sources said BSP had pared down its wish list of 50 seats, but was seeking ones that intrigued Congress leaders. BSP’s final list of 30 had many constituencies where the party polled hardly any votes in 2013. The data analytics department pointed out that BSP contesting those seats would strengthen BJP’s chances. While not helping the alliance, the spread of the seats sought by BSP also showed that the UP outfit was keen to make a pan-MP presence instead of focussing on ‘winnability’. As the afternoon wore on, Congress, armed with the analysis, was convinced that the alliance would not happen.
2019
Govt. stops Rs 25,000 pm ‘Emergency pension’ started in 2008
The Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh has suspended pension to over 2,500 people who were imprisoned during the Emergency under MISA (Maintenance of Internal Security Act) and DIR (Defence of India Rules), saying the beneficiaries will be “verified” and a new process formulated.
The decision has raised eyebrows as Congress had imposed the Emergeny and Kamal Nath was seen to be close to Sanjay Gandhi in those days. An incensed BJP has threatened to move court.
In 2008, the then Shivraj Singh Chouhan government had started a scheme providing a monthly pension of Rs 25,000 to ‘Loktantra Senanis’, a term given to MISA and DIR detainees. There are 2,604 such beneficiaries in the state.
TOI had on December 22 reported that the Congress government plans to withhold pension to the detainees. On December 29, the general administration department issued a circular to district collectors and divisional commissioners saying, “There were reports of overspending of Loktantra Senani Samman Nidhi... To regularise the funds, it is now mandatory to table a new bill in the assembly and seek excess funds. This calls for a new proper, transparent process and scrutiny of MISA detainees. For this, separate instructions will be released. Till then, it has been decided to suspend disbursement of pension of MISA detainees.”
Congress spokesperson Narendra Saluja said the MISA pension hadn’t been stopped and the aim was to identify ‘fake beneficiaries’, if any. “However, officials confirmed to TOI that instructions have been issued to all district treasuries and banks to put payments on hold.
Mandatory for industries to hire 70% locals
The Kamal Nathled Madhya Pradesh government on Monday made it mandatory for all industries in the state to provide 70% employment to local youth.
“To fulfil the manifesto promise, we have made 70% jobs mandatory for local youth of MP across industries facilitated by state government,” Nath tweeted.
“The new industrial policy has been made effective and all industries who seek incentive from the state must provide 70% jobs to local youth. We have not received any proposal turning down incentives provided by government, hence all industries covered under this policy will have to mandatorily follow the rule,” said principal secretary of department of industry Mohammed Suleman.
Sources said firms given land and other facilities by the for mer BJP gover nment have also been asked to follow the new policy.
Industrialists give thumbs up to MP govt’s job rider
Kamal Nath, who announced the state’s new industrial policy in December 2018, will hold discussions with industrialists on February 19 to encourage investment and generate employment for youth.
Undeterred by criticism for linking job deprivation to migration from other states, he stuck to his 70%-job clause. The CM, in his personal capacity, assured industrialists of a conducive atmosphere to invest in MP.
“We plan to hold the ‘Invest Madhya Pradesh’ summit from October 18-20. The government has provided all possible assistance to investors to promote industries in the state and will hold one-to-one discussions to see it happening,” chief secretary S R Mohanty told TOI.
As per the new industrial policy, the government has decided to set up training sessions and employment fairs in each district to register unemployed youth who will be provided stipend and later jobs under the 70% clause.
Industrialists seemed to welcome the job rider. “There is no problem for industries to employ 70% local youth and there are ample opportunities to adjust manpower. The only hurdle is bureaucratic attitude and stubbornness. We consider the CM better to communicate with rather than bureaucrats,” said industrialist and former state head of PHD Chamber of Commerce Rajendra Kothari.
MP CM tamed rebels to secure Jhabua victory
Suchandana Gupta, Oct 26, 2019: The Times of India
BHOPAL: For faction-riddled state Congress, Jhabua assembly bypoll victory would not have been possible without taming of rebels and intervention by chief minister Kamal Nath. Sources in the party said there were two major hurdles for five-time MP and party candidate Kantilal Bhuria, who lost the Ratlam Lok Sabha elections in May.
Former Congress MLA from the seat Javier Meda, was also a ticket aspirant and JAYS (Jai Adivasi Yuva Shakti), a recently floated tribal youth organization, had announced to field a candidate. “Stop looking at Kantilal Bhuria,” chief minister Kamal Nath told Javier Meda during the bypoll campaign.
“Look at me. Your honour will be protected,” he said. Congress leaders told TOI that Meda not only supported Bhuria after the chief minister’s assurance but even campaigned for him.
In the November 2018 assembly election, Javier Meda was refused candidature by the Congress from Jhabua because he lost the 2013 assembly election to BJP’s Shantilal Bilawal. Meda was party MLA in 2008 and rebelled after Congress fielded Kantilal Bhuria’s son Dr Vikrant Bhuria from the seat. He contested as an independent while Congress leadership expelled him for indiscipline.
Meda contested as independent and secured 35,943 votes. BJP’s Guman Singh Damor got 66,598 votes while Vikrant Bhuria received 56,161. Damor’s winning margin was 10,337 votes. Congress brought back Javier Meda into the party fold before the Lok Sabha elections realizing that he was the only reason for Dr Vikrant’s defeat.
Former Union Minister Kantilal Bhuria won the bypoll by a margin of 27,804 votes.
Sources in the party said that chief minister Kamal Nath will now reward Javier Meda for his support to Bhuria. He is tipped to be named chief of a state owned public undertaking soon.
The other rebellion scuttled by CM Nath was JAYS and party MLA from Manawar seat Hiralal Alawa. On September 7, JAYS announced it would field a candidate for Jhabua bypoll. Chief minister Kamal Nath summoned Hiralal Alawa who reached with a charter of demands which included employment opportunities for tribal youth, forest rights and the appointment of Tribal Advisory Council.
Alawa said, “The chief minister assured us that the charter of demands will be considered by the government and Tribal Advisory Council was constituted forthwith,” he said. Alawa became a member of the council headed by CM and JAYS declared it would not field a candidate for Jhabua bypoll and decided to support Congress.
Time banks
Ankur Sirothia, Nov 2, 2019: The Times of India
Madhya Pradesh will be the first state in the country to have a ‘time bank’, where you offer voluntary service to earn credit hours and get repaid the same way.
The ‘adhyatm’ (spirituality) department of the Kamal Nath government issued the orders. Additional chief secretary Manoj Shrivastava said all district collectors and administrators of Rajya Anand Sansthan have been told to initiate the process.
It’s a reciprocity-based system that encourages people to help each other in exchange for hourly time credits, said officials. You can, say, look after an elderly person, tend to a garden or teach underprivileged children — and get paid in kind for the credit hours you have earned.
Time banks will be opened in every district, and not just one per district, officials told TOI. There is no cap on the number of banks that can be set up. “It will bring people willing to help and those in need of help on a single platform. Those who help will get credit hours in ‘time bank account’, while those taking help will assist anyone in need in the bank’s network. It is not necessary that a person has to help the same person who helped him,” said Shrivastava.
2020
‘Cow cabinet’
MP sets up country’s first ‘cow cabinet’, November 19, 2020: The Times of India
Bhopal:
Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced a first-of-its-kind ‘gau cabinet’, yoking together six departments functioning under five ministers to work for the “conservation and welfare of cows”.
Ministers Narottam Mishra (home), Prem Singh Patel (animal husbandry), Mahendra Singh Sisodiya (panchayat), Kunwar Vijay Shah (forest) and Kamal Patel (revenue and agriculture) will be part of this administrative set-up.
The group’s first meeting is scheduled for Gopashtami on November 22 at a cow sanctuary in Agar Malwa, 210km from Bhopal, CM Chouhan tweeted.
“BJP is the guardian of Indian culture. It believes there are three means of contentment — Gita, Ganga and Gaumata. That inspired the decision to form a gau cabinet. The BJP government under Shivraj Singh Chouhan has set an example before the country,” home minister Mishra said.
BJP govt has done nothing for cow protection: Nath
Agriculture and revenue minister Kamal Patel said BJP was doing what Congress promised but never executed. “The (erstwhile) Congress government promised to set up a thousand cow shelters, but not a single one was built. The government led by CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan has started to not only work for the protection of cows but also their conservation.”
PCC chief Kamal Nath dismissed it as “just another announcement”. “Before the 2018 assembly polls, Chouhan had announced formation of a cow ministry. He had also promised cow sanctuaries and cow shelters all over the state. He is now talking about a cow cabinet,” Nath tweeted.
The former CM alleged that the government had done nothing for the protection of cows. “In contrast, he reduced funds for fodder, which the Congress government had raised to Rs 20 per cow,” Nath said. The 472-hectare cow sanctuary in Agar Malwa came up in 2017 during Chouhan’s third term as CM at a cost of Rs 32 crore and can accommodate over 4,000 cows.
Scindia’s 12 in expanded MP cabinet
July 3, 2020: The Times of India
The Jyotiraditya Scindia impact was clear in the Shivraj Singh Chouhan cabinet as 28 MLAs took oath in a much-delayed expansion. With 12 of them from Team Scindia, the Rajya Sabha MP thundered, “Tiger zinda hai”.
These were the exact words Chouhan had uttered on December 20, 2018, after losing the assembly polls, and had asserted that the Congress government would not last its full term. The Madhya Pradesh cabinet now has 34 members, including the chief minister.
Former Congress MLAs who propelled BJP back to power now make up 41% of the cabinet. As many as 14 of the 22 (64%) Congress MLAs who broke away with Scindia in March, toppling the Kamal Nath government, have been made ministers ahead of make-or-break bypolls. In contrast, only about 19% of BJP’s 107 MLAs made it into the cabinet. Among those left out were six of the old guard who had been with Chouhan in his earlier cabinets. “I am personally unhappy that many sr, capable & experienced leaders of BJP did not get a ministerial berth,” Nath tweeted.
Not a single Kailash Vijayvargiya loyalist could get a cabinet berth. The same goes for ex-CM Uma Bharti. She tweeted she had asked party leaders to “strike a social equation in the cabinet expansion”.
Chouhan becomes CM for fourth term
BJP national vicepresident Shivraj Singh Chouhan was sworn in for a fourth term as the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh on Monday amid the Coronavirus outbreak. Chouhan took oath of office in a simple ceremony at Raj Bhawan around 9pm. Governor Lalji Tandon administered the oath in the presence of select BJP functionaries, MLAs and top bureaucrats. Acting chief minister Kamal Nath and former chief minister Uma Bharti were also present.
Scindia defects with 20+ MLAs
March 11, 2020: The Times of India
Madhya Pradesh: Congress failed to gauge Jyotiraditya Scindia's loyal following
NEW DELHI: Driven by the ruling faction in Bhopal, led by CM Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh, Congress utterly failed to gauge the support commanded by Jyotiraditya Scindia and the resentment among its MLAs, a miss that is set to bring down the 15-month-old Congress-led government in MP.
Though Scindia had adopted a rebellious tone over the last couple of months, the state Congress was convinced that he would not be able to garner support of more than five MLAs, that too from his turf of Gwalior-Guna. That prompted Nath and Singh to push Scindia to go for the broke, an extreme step that he may not have taken in normal circumstances.
The calculation was that even if he left the party, he would not be able to bring down the government and the loss of a few MLAs would be compensated by the turncoats from BJP who were in contact with the chief minister. What actually transpired - with over 20 MLAs set to quit Congress now along with Scindia and join BJP - has shocked the state unit.
There was also complete confidence in the Congress brass, starting from the AICC, that Scindia could grumble and create problems but would not jump the ship for arch rival BJP.
That Scindia could muster support beyond his recognised clout - and also decide to join BJP - left Congress red-faced with embarrassment on Holi.
The problems started right after the Congress victory in the December 2018 elections. Scindia was overlooked as choice of party mascot for the state polls, as Digvijaya Singh threw his lot behind Nath in the deeply factionalised state unit.
While Scindia was smarting all along, his defeat in 2019 Lok Sabha elections made him desperate. He staked claim to a Rajya Sabha berth and state leadership.
But the Nath-Singh combine shut him out completely and the disappearance of some party MLAs last week was seen as a bid to thwart his claim for the RS berth. The proposal that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra become an RS candidate from the state was also seen as the ruling group's bid to cut out Scindia.
The absentee leadership at the top, following Rahul Gandhi's resignation as Congress chief, only helped the state satraps get a free run without having to worry about the diktats or concerns of the AICC.
For the young leader, this was a recap, and extension, of the rivalry that these senior leaders had with his late father Madhavrao Scindia, which thwarted the latter from becoming the CM. His complete shutting out drove him to the extreme step of quitting Congress and joining the BJP.
The episode has an echo of what Jyotiraditya's late father did in 1996. After his name figured in the infamous Jain Hawala diaries during the Narasimha Rao government, in which he was a minister, he was denied a ticket for Lok Sabha elections.
Miffed, Scindia senior left Congress and contested under his newly floated party and defeated the official Congress candidate. He went on to support the Deve Gowda government but returned to Congress in 1998 when Sonia Gandhi assumed leadership. He remained in Congress till his death in an air crash in 2001.
2022
Emergence of AAP, AIMIM
Suchandana Gupta, July 18, 2022: The Times of India
2 new players emerge in Madhya Pradesh poll arena - AAP, AIMIM
BHOPAL: Sixteen months before the assembly elections in the state, two new political parties have made their entry into the state - AAP and AIMIM. In a stunner, AAP mayoral candidate for the industrial town of Singrauli, Rani Agarwal, won with a margin of 9,149 votes beating the BJP's Chandra Pratap Vishwakarma and Congress' Arvind Singh Chandel.
In Burhanpur, an AIMIM mayoral candidate polled more than 10,000 votes in her favour resulting in the defeat of Congress' Shanaz Ismail by a narrow margin of 388 votes against BJP's Madhuri Patel. Winning BJP mayoral candidate secured 52,629 votes, Congress candidate Ismail received 52,241 votes while the AIMIM candidate Shayesta Sohail Hashmi pulled 10,322 votes.
AIMIM candidate from ward number 14 in Khandwa Municipal Corporation Shakira Bilal defeated Congress' Noorjahan Begum by a margin of 285 votes. Two more AIMIM corporator candidates from Jabalpur also won - Parveen Mateen from ward no 49 and Samreen Qureshi from ward 51.
AAP mayoral candidate from Singrauli Rani Agarwal had contested the 2018 assembly election on an AAP ticket but lost. However, for the Singrauli municipal corporation elections, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal campaigned for her three days before polling.
The total number of votes cast in Singrauli was 1,06,000 of which Agarwal secured 34,585 while her nearest rival, the BJP's Chandra Pratap Vishwakarma got 25,233 and Congress candidate Arvind Chandel received 25,031.
In a state which has majorly seen bipartite politics with the BJP and Congress, no third party whether BSP or the Samajwadi Party could make much progress. For 65 years since the birth of the state, politics has always been the struggle between the Jan Sangh and Congress and later the BJP and Congress. But after Sunday's urban civic poll results, it was apparent that AIMIM has spoiled the chances of Congress win while AAP has cut into BJP votes.
While campaigning in Bhopal before the urban civic poll, AIMIM leader Assaduddin Owaisi said his party would field candidates for assembly elections next year. AAP which had contested the 2018 assembly elections is also likely to contest 2023. In such a scenario, both BJP and Congress might have to rethink new strategies for the assembly elections next year.
Mayors: BJP loses Gwalior, Chambal
July 21, 2022: The Times of India
United Nations: Days after the UN secretary general’s report on ‘Children and Armed Conflict’ mentioned India, New Delhi has expressed concern that the report includes situations that are “not situations of armed conflict” or threats to maintenance of international peace and security. The report released last week mentions the situation in India under the category “Situations not on the agenda of the Security Council or other situations”. Addressing the UNSC high-level open debate on children and armed conflict on Tuesday, charge d’affaires at India’s permanent mission to the UN ambassador R Ravindra said, “We must be cautious as attempts to selectively expand the mandate will only politicise its agenda. It would distract us and even divert our attention from real threats to international peace and security and children in armed conflict. ”
“We also note with concern that despite the council’s clear mandate, the secretary general’s report includes situations that are not situations of armed conflict or threats to the maintenance of international peace and security,” he said.
In the report, UN secretary general Antonio Guterres welcomed the legal and administrative framework for the protection of children and improved access to child protection services in “several Indian states, including Assam and Jammu and Kashmir”. But he expressed concern about the risk of child recruitment by armed groups in affected districts.
“I further welcome the agreement to a joint technical mission to hold interministerial, technical-level meetings with the United Nations during 2022 to identify areas of enhanced cooperation for child protection. This enhanced engagement may lead to removal of India as a situation of concern from my next report on children and armed conflict, should all practical measures agreed to in such meets be fully implemented by then” the secretary general said in the report. AGENCIES
2023
Mohan Yadav appointed CM
Dec 12, 2023: The Times of India
NEW DELHI: Ujjain South MLA Mohan Yadav will be the new chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, the BJP announced, denying a record fifth term to veteran leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
It was also decided that the state will have two deputy CMs: Jagdish Deora and Rajendra Shukla. Meanwhile, former Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar will be the speaker of the 16th Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly.
"I am a small worker of the party.
I thank all of you, the state leadership and the central leadership. With your love and support, I will try to fulfil my responsibilities," said Yadav, who is a three-time MLA and was a cabinet minister in the Chouhan government.After the announcement, Yadav met Governor Mangubhai C. Patel at Raj Bhavan in Bhopal and staked claim to form the government
OBC streak continues
Since 2003, all three CMs of the BJP in MP, namely Babulal Gaur, Uma Bharti, and Chouhan, have been from the Other Backward Classes (OBC).
CM-designate Mohan Yadav, 58, is also an OBC leader. The population of OBCs in MP is around 48%.
Monday's decision -- ending over a week's suspense on who would lead the party's new government -- was taken during the legislature party meeting in Bhopal that was attended by the 163 newly elected BJP MLAs as well as the party's three central observers.
Madhya Pradesh went to poll for 230 assembly seats in a single phase on November 17 and the counting of votes was done on December 3.
The BJP, which had been battling close to 20 years of incumbency in the state, won a resounding mandate, bagging 163 seats, while the Congress finished a distant second at 66 seats.
New CM face was expected
Many political analysts had expected a change in CM face after the BJP announced that three central observers -- Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar, OBC Morcha head K Laxman and party's state national secretary Asha Lakra -- would take part in the legislature party meeting to decide the name.
Notably, the party made central observers last time in the state in 2005 when former CM Babu Lal Gaur left the top post. After that, CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan took the oath for the first time as CM in November 2005.
Earlier, the central observers were appointed in 2004 when former CM Uma Bharti left the top post, after which Gaur was appointed as CM.
Since then, no central observers were appointed in the state. During the state assembly polls in 2008 and 2013, the BJP remained in power and Chouhan continued to be the CM of the state.
Chouhan had dropped hint
Rumours that Chouhan may not return as CM grew after the BJP leader himself made a post on X, which was widely seen as a 'farewell' message.
From his official X handle, Chouhan had posted a picture of him and captioned it with “sabhi ko Ram Ram (Ram Ram to all)".
(With inputs from agencies)
