The Madhya Pradesh Congress may be presenting a united front at its public meetings ahead of the Assembly elections later this year, but a poster war has begun between the supporters of the party’s State chief Kamal Nath and Congress’s election campaign in-charge Jyotiraditya Scindia on social media.
Posters of the two leaders being projected as the future Chief Minister are doing the rounds on social media even as the Congress leadership is treading cautiously keeping in mind the intense factionalism that its M.P. unit has witnessed in the past.
The poster of Mr. Nath with hashtag KamlnathNextMPCM, posted on 'Kamal Nath Vichar Sadbhawna Manch-MP' Facebook page, carries the slogan — “ Rahul Bhaiyaa ka Sandesh, Kamal Nath Sambhalo Pradesh (Rahul Gandhi’s message: Kamal Nath take charge of Madhya Pradesh).”
The source of Mr. Scindia’s poster circulating on social media is not known but it conveys the message — “ Desh mein chalegi vikas ki aandhi, Pradesh mein Scindia, kendra mein Rahul Gandhi (There will be a storm of development in the country, led by Scindia in M.P. and Rahul Gandhi at the Centre).” It has been posted by Mr. Scindia's “fan club”. Party president Rahul Gandhi’s photo is common to both posters.
Faction-riven unit
While the Congress remains tight-lipped about the poster war, it has added fuel to the already raging factionalism in the M.P. Congress which seems is divided into not two but several groups led by Mr. Nath, Mr. Scindia, Digvijaya Singh, Suresh Pachouri, Meenakshi Natrajan and leader of Opposition in the Assembly Ajay Singh.
The posters have come out at a time when former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh is on a yatra, meeting party workers at the district level with an aim to resolve the differences among them.
The Congress is in a direct face-off with the BJP in M.P., where it has been out of power for the last 15 years.
Published - July 15, 2018 07:33 am IST
