Congress hit with new infighting row in M.P. after Digvijaya Singh refutes Jitu Patwari’s claims over Ujjain land ‘scam’

It is one embarrassment after another for the Madhya Pradesh unit of the Congress in the past few weeks and the latest one comes even as the party tries to corner Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the alleged land scam by Mr. Yadav’s family members in his hometown of Ujjain. 

In the first half of June, the party had to take a bitter pill after the nomination of its Rajya Sabha candidate Meenakshi Natarajan was rejected for failing to mention a court notice issued to her in Hyderabad. Apart from accusing the BJP of “stealing the seat”, rumours that it could have been a result of the Congress’ infighting also made rounds. 

The end of June brought another situation that the party is currently busy dealing with after senior leader and former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh fact-checked an allegation by State Congress president Jitu Patwari had made against Mr. Yadav. This fuelled a series of meetings and press conferences apart from some leaders publicly targeting Mr. Singh while the BJP jumped to take advantage of the situation. 

Following an investigation by an English Daily that exposed the alleged land scam in Ujjain, Mr. Patwari on June 24 further alleged that government land worth ₹500 crore in Ujjain had been given to a trust called Veer Bharat Nyas for a token amount of ₹1 and that Mr. Yadav’s cultural advisor Shriram Tiwari was a trustee. Mr. Patwari made the allegations during a press conference with party’s national media head at the Congress headquarters in New Delhi 

However, days later, Mr. Singh addressed reporters in Ujjain and refuted Mr. Patwari’s claim. 

“An allegation was made recently that land was given to a trust in ₹1 It [the land] has not been given to a private trust. It’s a government trust. I have gotten [documents] on that. I don’t come without putting in research. The ex-officio chairman of the trust is the Chief Minister. So, this charge is not right,” Mr. Singh said, while adding there were several “dalaal (brokers)” who make false allegations and extort money. 

The statement alarmed various senior M.P. Congress leaders and MLAs as it hampered the party’s efforts to take on a formidable BJP in the State. 

While a bunch of Congress leaders slammed Mr. Singh on social media, the party rushed to call a meeting of its political affairs committee (PAC), where several leaders are learnt to have raised the issue. Some leaders, however, claim that a sitting of the PAC was already scheduled. 

As per two Congress insiders and a local report, terms like “sleeper cell” were used in the meeting by some leaders while others urged the leaders to have coordination in their statements. 

Bhopal MLA Arif Masood, however, denied later that he used terms like “sleeper cell” 

After the meeting, former Union Minister Arun Yadav took to X and sought Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s intervention while alleging that “certain individuals are making futile attempts to break the morale of those [Congress] workers under a contrived conspiracy”.

“If responsible people try to exploit their personal grievances and animosity at the expense of the party’s workers, it will not be right,” he wrote.

After the PAC meeting, Mr. Singh and Mr. Patwari also addressed a press conference together in an attempt to presented a united house. 

“A misconception is being spread that there is an issue between Digvijaya Singh and Jitu Patwari. He is like my son and I have been with the Congress for more than 50 years. I cannot use the word ‘dalaal’ for any Congress worker let alone the State Congress Committee president,” Mr. Singh said with Mr. Patwari sitting next to him. 

Mr. Singh claimed that the word ‘dalaal’ was used for a local journalist who’s surname Dalal. 

Various BJP leaders took on the Congress saying that their own leader had exposed the “fake allegations” made by Mr. Patwari. 

“The lifespan of a lie isn’t very long! The malicious campaign that Congress President Jitu Patwari was trying to pass off as truth has been deflated by Congress senior leader and former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh himself,” M.P. BJP media in-charge Ashish Agarwal said. 

Whereas, Pichhore MLA Pritam Lodhi went on to invite Mr. Singh into the saffron party. 

Even though Congress leaders now say that the issue has been resolved and the party is now focused on the byelection on Datia Assembly constituency, a source said that the matter has reached the party national leadership and that “there are high chances of an intervention from Delhi”. 

A Congress MLA, The Hindu spoke to, said, “Do we realise that 2028 [Assembly election] is just two years away. The BJP already has a very strong machinery and booth management system. The election is anyway going to be a difficult and with all senior leaders walking their own path, we could be looking at another 2023-like situation [crushing defeat by the BJP].”