Arjun Singh prophesy about Digvijay Singh

Congress stalwart late Arjun Singh had once prophesied this about his most famous protégé. “A time will come when Digvijay Singh will not have even one supporter to carry his suitcase’. The sardonic statement was made in Bhopal in mid nineties when Arjun Singh had broken away from the Congress to form his own party with ND Tiwari and Digvijay Singh was MP’s chief minister. Digvijay’s ‘betrayal’ had sorely rankled his mentor. Arjun Singh was isolated and miserable while his protégé had craftily managed to shore up the Congress in the state, much to the delight of the mentor’s sworn enemy late PV Narsimha Rao.

That two-decade-old prophesy of the late Congress leader is staring in Digvijay Singh’s face. The Supreme Court last month thwarted the AICC general secretary’s plea to order a CBI probe into the multi-layered professional examination board (PEB) recruitment and admission scam. On December 27, a desperate Digvijay announced a toll free line for callers to lodge complaints in connection with the scam. He still maintains that unless CBI probe is ordered , justice will elude the victims of the scam. He says he is committed to take the matter to its logical end. Is he honest about it? Let’s us go a little into the background.  

Digvijay Singh had invested a lot  in the petition to gain lost ground in the MP Congress. He lined up best legal brains—Kapil Sibal, KTS Tulsi and Abhishek Manu Sanghvi—to fight his case in the apex court. But the bench headed by chief justice of India HL Dattu was not impressed by the arguments against ongoing probe in to the scam by the state government’s special task force (STF). The probe is being monitored by the MP High court-appointed Special Investigation team (SIT).  The Supreme Court ruled that’ the first constitutional court (high court) is monitoring the case and we respect it’.

Diggvijay Singh is naturally disappointed. ‘Disappointed with the SC verdict on VYAPAM. Our fight against all those who have cheated youth and the people of MP shall continue,” he tweeted. Most Congress leaders, ironically, don’t share the AICC general secretary’s disappointment. Far from it, they  feel  relieved that the major roadblock in the way of  resuming  stir against the state government on the scam has been removed.

“  Digvijay Singh had completely hijacked the  PEB scam on the specious ground that he would lend real punch in the Congress agitation over the issue  by securing court order for a CBI probe. He prevailed over the Central leadership to suspend the party stir on the scam till the court verdict. As a result, the Congress momentum build around the scam petered out”, a senior party leader rued.

Indeed, for the poll-battered Congress the PEB scam was a godsend to revive its sagging morale. Although  skeletons from the professional examination board (PEB) had begun to tumble out even before  the assembly election in the state in November last year,  chief minister Shivraj Singh  faced acute embarrassment following arrest of  former  technical education minister Laxmikant Sharma and  mining baron Sudhir Sharma in January this year.

Since then the government  has continued to feel the heat  as the STF  kept peeling off layers of the scam. From bungling in scores of recruitment tests to admissions in pre-medical and PG tests,  the STF has unearthed what BJP’s  leader and Shivraj Singh’s bête noire Uma Bharti dubbed,’ the biggest scam in the county , bigger than the fodder scam of Bihar”.

Attorney general Muku lRohtagi, who appeared on behalf of the state government, admitted in the court that the  STF is conducting probe in 55 cases registered in the case. Thousands of bogus appointees and  medical students along with middlemen   have been arrested.

Amid ever-growing damning revelations about enormity of the scam, the Congress under  the leadership  of leader of opposition Satyadeo Katare managed to rattle the Shivraj Singh government. It was a major Congress plank in the May Lok Sabha election, though the Modi-wave swept the party off its feet.  Digvijay’s role in the campaign in Madhya Pradesh was  noticeably limited. He barely addressed a few dozen election meetings. Congress workers, not to speak of the candidates, had stopped missing him. In fact, Digvijay’s marginalisation had begun  after  the Congress  nominated jyotiraditya Scindia as chief campaign manager  of the party in the assembly election. His success in securing  Rajya Sabha nomination further antagonised  the party men. They saw in the move utter opportunism. By the time, the Lok Sabha election came, the AICC general secretary  had lost whatever political ground he had.

Despite the defeat in the lok Sabha elections, Katare and company were keen to intensify  agitation against the state j government, especially when involvement of  the CM’s family members in the scam surfaced. Digvijay Singh scuttled their plan. He argued that first let’s fight the issue in the court and then on the streets.

“It is not as though we were not able to see his game plan. But we thought it wiser to wait. Now that  the legal option is closed, we feel  free to chalk strategy afresh sans Digvijay ”, said a Congress leader.

Although Digvijay Singh has vowed to continue the fight  on the scam, the sate Congress leadership is not keen t take him on the board in its plan to resume stir against the Shivraj government.

Congress leaders feel that Digvijay’s insistence on legal recourse was a ploy to let the chief minister breath easy. “ We lost precious time in attacking the government on this issue while the petition was pending in the court. Digvijay is to blame for that”. a leader remarked.

No wonder, nobody in the Congress is missing Digvijay Singh amid the ongoing elections for the  civic bodies in the state. Will Arjun Singh’s prophesy come true  sooner rather than later ?