Madhya Pradesh: Ex-Cong minister Kamaleshwar Patel expresses disappointment over party infighting
Bhopal: Former minister and Congress Working Committee (CWC) member Kamleshwar Patel, on Monday, expressed his disappointment over growing factionalism in the Madhya Pradesh unit of the Congress.
In a targeted attack at Madhya Pradesh Congress in-charge, Harish Choudhary, Patel accused him of being part of “groupism” and of being “biased”.
He alleged that instead of making coordination among all leaders, he himself has become the party. “Groupism has always been in competitive politics, but it should not be at this level…Harish Choudhary’s job is to make a coordination among leaders and not to become the party,” Patel said while responding to a media query on growing factionalism in the state Congress.
Patel further said that state Congress chief Jitu Patwari and in-charge MP Congress Harish Choudhary should pay attention to the issue. He asserted that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi have assigned them a big task, and they should make a decision accordingly. “Differences among leaders are obvious in politics. I will request Harish Choudhary and Jitu Patwari to reach a consensus among all leaders. The party has given both of you to head the state unit,” he added.
Coincidentally, the state Congress also witnessed yet another surprising political development on Monday as another senior Congress leader, Ajay Singh ‘Rahul’, visited ex-CM Digvijaya Singh’s residence in Bhopal. Notably, Ajay Singh, who is the son of ex-CM (late) Arjun Singh, hasn’t met Digvijaya Singh for the past several years. Hence, his sudden visit to Digvijaya Singh’s residence at Shyamlal Hills in Bhopal sparked debate in the political gallery.
It is also worth mentioning that both Kamleshwar Patel and Ajay Singh come from Sidhi district in the Vindhya region of Madhya Pradesh, and their political rivalry has always been a matter of debate.
Interestingly, Ajay Singh, who had lost the Assembly election from his family bastion Churhat (in Sidhi district) Assembly seat in 2018, managed to win in 2023. While Kamleshwar, who had won in 2018 and had become a cabinet minister in Kamal Nath’s 18-month government, lost from the Sihawal seat in 2023.