Betul by-election outcome jolts Suresh Pachauri | N.D.Sharma

Published on 24-04-2008 In National

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Betul by-election outcome jolts Suresh Pachauri

The defeat of the Congress candidate in the Betul Lok Sabha by-election has shaken Suresh Pachauri who, after taking over as the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee president, had been receiving tremendous public response, all spontaneous, wherever he went. The defeat is all the more stunning because the Congress had for some time been on a winning spree under the leadership of his predecessor Subhash Yadav.

The by-election was caused by the death of four-time BJP member of Lok Sabha Vijay Khandelwal. The BJP had put forward his son Hemant Khandelwal while the Congress had fielded Sukhdev Panse, MLA from Masod which is a segment of the Betul Lok Sabha constituency. Another important candidate was Dr Sunilam, Samajwadi Party MLA from Multai, also a segment of the Betul Lok Sabha constituency. The BJP retained the seat, though by a drastically reduced margin of over 35,000 votes. Vijay Khandelwal had won from Betul in 2004 by a margin of over 1.57 lakh votes.

This may be the last by-election in the State before the Assembly elections due in November. The BJP, particularly chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, had much in stake in the Betul by-election outcome after losing Shivpuri, Lanji and Sanver Assembly by-elections and Khargone Lok Sabha by-election in quick succession. The party leaders in the State were feeling that if the BJP lost the Betul by-election also, Chauhan would not be permitted to lead the party in the Assembly elections, BJP election in-charge Venkaiah Naidu's claims to the contrary notwithstanding.

The situation in Betul was hardly different from that in Sanver Assembly or Khargone Lok Sabha constituencies: the ruling BJP was plagued by the anti-incumbency factor, its minister (Kamal Patel, holding the revenue portfolio) and MLAs from the area were facing the people's ire for allegedly amassing their personal wealth at the cost of the people. It is true that Shivraj Singh Chauhan had embarked upon the electoral fight in Betul with the determination as if his very life depended on the victory of the BJP candidate there. He had positioned half of his cabinet there, little caring for the Election Commission's model code of conduct. He had by now learnt that the Election Commission's notices for violation of model code of conduct did not mean much.

Rather, he has acquired the technique of using the Election Commission notices for breach of model code of conduct to his party's advantage. He used this technique with finesse in Betul. Some time back his government had announced in the Assembly its intention to launch a scheme for supplying foodgrain to the poor at cheaper rates. He announced the details of the scheme and the date of its launch during the election campaign and also said that the poor of Betul would also benefit by it. The Congress was prompt to complain to the Election Commission which mechanically issued notices for violation of model code of conduct. The BJP then told the audiences at its election meetings that the government had prepared a scheme to help the poor but the Congress was opposing it. It got the immediate advantage. The party or the government would deal with the Election Commission notices later on!

Still, that was probably not enough for the BJP to get its candidate through.

The Congress entered the electoral arena as a house divided. The appointment of Pachauri as PCC president was not liked by the Thakur lobby led by Arjun Singh and Digvijay Singh, in spite of Arjun Singh's son Ajay Singh (Rahul Bhaiya) having been made chairman of the campaign committee. Pachauri's predecessor Subhash Yadav, who was expecting to be renominated to the post after successive Congress victories in the by-elections, went into a sulk. One of Yadav's lieutenants, Deepchand Yadav, had picked up an ugly fight with Pachauri over a non-issue within days of the latter's appointment as the PCC chief, apparently conveying to the OBC leaders that their interests were not safe in the hands of Pachauri, a Brahman. The fissures came to the fore with the formation of the PCC executive when a senior party leader refused to accept membership of the PCC executive because his name was bracketed with what he called touts and power brokers.

Either he felt overconfident after seeing the type of public response his visits to various parts of the State had received, or he was overawed by Union commerce minister Kamal Nath, Pachauri made the fatal mistake of not taking the party along in Betul. For all practical purposes, it became a Kamal Nath show—from selecting the candidate to devising the election strategy to addressing public meetings. No effort was made to involve other senior leaders like Arjun Singh, Digvijay Singh or Jyotiraditya Scindia. The Yadavs and other OBCs were already feeling alienated. The hush-hush talks of internal sabotage had started in the party circles even before polling.

Eventually, the contest appeared to be not between the BJP and the Congress but between Shivraj Singh Chauhan and Kamal Nath. While Chauhan had unashamedly deployed the entire government machinery to help the ruling party candidate, Kamal Nath was feeling so confident of his candidate's victory that he had started dreaming of becoming the next chief minister of Madhya Pradesh. "I am prepared to accept it (the chief minister's post) if the party so desired", he declared. He is normally known for his humility but the prospect of the Congress victory had made him lose his poise. His observation that the poor people, who could earlier scarcely afford one square meal, were now eating twice a day and that was a major factor for the rising prices of essential commodities was unlike him. But it did the damage, as the BJP was quick to exploit it.

Kamal Nath and Pachauri have been quiet after the Betul result was announced. The supporters of Arjun Singh, Digvijay Singh and Scindia are gloating over the embarrassment to Pachauri. Only Leader of the Opposition Jamuna Devi, who had been active in the election campaign along with Nath and Pachauri, has publicly accepted that the party should have presented a united face to the electorate in Betul. The Congress would learn from the mistakes in this election and approach the Assembly elections "as a single unit", she said.

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