Madhya Pradesh: Rahul energises party workers, BJP can’t find workers to hold party flags

The Congress President Rahul Gandhi took a unique initiative when he directly got in touch with the presidents of district Congress committees of Madhya Pradesh (MP).

The phone call booster by the Congress chief apparently came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to booth-level functionaries across the country including those in MP’s Damoh district on 10th October. According to Mandla district Congress Committee (DCC) President Sanjay Parihar, Rahul Gandhi asked him about several constituencies and the strength of the party cadres working there. He was told to refrain from factionalism and work for the party to ensure victory in the elections. Besides, ticket distribution was also discussed during these conversations.

Gandhi reportedly asked the district chiefs to make sure all the senior party leaders were present during major events. The districts were chosen by the All India Congress Committee and the AICC general secretary had issued instruction to all concerned to remain available on phone between 10 am to 11 am. Rahul Gandhi spoke to the DCC presidents of Indore, Ujjain, Mandla, Singrauli, Morena, Dindori, Chhatarpur and Datia. These are the districts which Rahul is yet to visit or is scheduled to visit later.

The day was a tough call for the DCC presidents as all of them had to remain glued to their seats for all of one hour as no one knew which one Rahul would call next. While Gandhi spoke to them, the district unit presidents were told to arrange for a separate number in case they had questions to ask or issues to discuss with party chief.

Meanwhile BJP President Amit Shah visited various places in the Madhya Bharat region. But reports published in the news papers of the region say the response to Shah’s programmes was lukewarm.

On a typical day, Lankesh, 52, a daily wage worker, has to wait for hours at Sitlamata Bazar Chowk before he gets hired to do some odd jobs. But October 6 turned out to be different. Faced with shortage of party workers to hold the BJP flag during the visit of the party president Amit Shah to the city, some local BJP leaders reportedly hired more than 50 people, including daily wage workers and members of local bands.

Lankesh told media persons that on October 5 he was approached by some men wearing BJP party mufflers. BJP, which claims to be world’s largest political party, could not find adequate number of party workers in Indore to hold the party flag. Faced with this quandary, these men were brought from Sitlamata Bazzar and Malharganj and made to stand holding the BJP flag at Rajwada. City BJP president Gopi Nema said, “the flag is an honour for us. I will inquire about who called these people to hold the flags and take strict action against the people responsible”.

Another person, Raju, who is a contractor of daily wage workers also corroborated Lankesh’s version of the incident. A member of a local marriage band, Anil was used as an intermediary to contact and hire the daily wagers and offer them money. Sources said the BJP wanted a huge crowd at Rajwada from where the rally was launched by Amit Shah. Another local paper reported that the people who took part in this rally deserted after covering some distance.

Meanwhile the reports of internal rivalry in the state BJP have also emerged.

According to one such report from Satna, the office bearers of the local unit of the BJP not only exchanged heated words they also came to blows but. The leaders of both the factions subsequently filed FIRs against each other.

According to another such report Alok Sanjar, BJP MP from Bhopal during his visit to nearby town was shocked to find that not a single party member had come to attend the meeting.