Polls: Cong’s ex-CM factor

With three opposition-ruled states heading for polls barely four months from now, the Congress high command is yet to define the role of its former chief ministers from there in the elections — Digvijay Singh (Madhya Pradesh), Ajit Jogi (Chhattisgarh) and Ashok Gehlot (Rajasthan). While a two-term CM and at the forefront of the party’s agitations against the BJP regime in Madhya Pradesh, Digvijay has maintained he is not interested in state politics any more. Jyotiraditya Scindia, a chief ministerial aspirant, has been equally active holding a series of rallies outside Gwalior and successfully dispelling the impression about his popularity being limited to that region only. Madhya Pradesh PCC chief Suresh Pachauri, a four-term Rajya Sabha member and another CM aspirant, has currently taken the backseat. AICC general secretary in charge of Delhi and former Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, on the other hand, is very keen to go back to state politics but the high command is reluctant given the Jat community’s perceived antipathy towards him. Rajasthan PCC chief C P Joshi, however, is annoyingly inactive for the Congress. In Chhattisgarh, since the return of V C Shukla to the Congress, Jogi is equally at sea about his role and future.