November one, the first day of filling nominations for the upcoming Madhya Pradesh assembly elections coincided with Dhanteras - a day when Hindus celebrate wealth and worship Laxmi, the wealth goddess by buying new jewellery and utensils. Jaivardhan Singh, son of former MP Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh chose this day, generally considered auspicious by all Hindus to file his nominations from his family's pocket borough, the Ragogarh assembly constituency.
With his illustrious father by his side, Jaivardhan Singh filed his nomination papers as an independent without the mandatory B form that is required for a party nomination. On why the nomination was filed without the party declaring him a candidate from Ragogarh, Digvijaya was quoted saying he had taken the permission of the High Command. And of course they certainly could not miss the auspicious Dhanteras day.
That Jaivardhan Singh is special is known to everyone in the Congress in Madhya Pradesh. That he would eventually get the party ticket, no one had any doubts but the Singhs would not wait for declaration of the party candidates came as a surprise to Congress watchers. And this was just the beginning; the bigger surprise came late in the evening at around 7.15 pm, the same day when Congress general secretary Madhusudan Mistry released the first list of 115 party candidates. Jaivardhan Singh's name was no where in the scene.
The first list comprised of seats over which there was no confusion, the seats on which all the satraps had agreed on the candidates and it was not region specific. The question on everyone's mind was what happened to the Doon School, Sri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) and Columbia university alumnus? Why was his name missing from the list? The gossip mongers better know as Batolebaaaz - the ones who have converted gossiping into an art form - were express quick with their analysis. "This is the only way the Congress High Command can show Digvijay Singh his real worth," said one while another insisted on the hidden message that the party wanted to send to the voters of Madhya Pradesh. And what was that hidden message? The answer depended on which side of Digvijaya, the listener stood.
A Digvijaya hater (there is no dearth of this species of politically active people in Madhya Pradesh who at the slightest reference start heaving about those powerless, waterless bad years when there were no roads in Madhya Pradesh) would get to listen what pleases him the most: The party wants to fix him and this is the only way they can do it. They have reduced him to fighting for his son's ticket.
The well wishers of Digvijaya, who again are in significant numbers, would get to listen that he is the boss who does not need any one's sanction except from the very top that is 10 Janpath.aivardhan Singh's name eventually did figure in the second list that was declared by the party on November 5 and now after submission of the mandatory B form he has become the official Congress candidate from Ragogarh. He first hit the headlines when he did a padyatra covering Rogogarh while on vacation from his studies in Colombia University.
The road ahead is also not that tough. Digvijaya may be forced to stay out of MP for some years to come but he has nurtured Ragogarh pretty well. Victory for his son is guaranteed. He could have waited for the Congress to release its list but then what would have happened of Dhanteras.
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