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एमपी इलेक्शन: सर्वे की कोख से निकली लिस्ट

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  Kamal Nath is going out of way to prove he is not anti-Hindu MP Assembly Election Update: 14 October 2023 NK SINGH कमलनाथ के प्लान के मुताबिक काँग्रेस की लिस्ट इस दफा सर्वे-नाथ ने बनाई है। प्रदेश के नेताओं में आम तौर पर सहमति थी कि लिस्ट इस बार सर्वे के आधार पर बनेगी। पर क्या यह महज संयोग है कि यह लिस्ट राहुल गांधी के गेम-प्लान के मुताबिक भी है? वे अपनी पार्टी के क्षत्रपों के कार्टेल को ध्वस्त करना चाहते हैं, जो 10-15 एमएलए के बूते पर प्रदेश की पॉलिटिक्स चलाते हैं। सर्वे की कोख से निकली लिस्ट कमोबेश जीत की संभावना के आधार पर बनी है। एनपी प्रजापति जैसे अपवादों को छोड़कर कोई सप्राइज़ नहीं। बीजेपी की लिस्ट देखते हुए, काँग्रेस इस बार फूँक-फूक कर कदम रख रही थी। भाजपा उम्मीदवारों की पांचों लिस्ट 2018 के मुकाबले काफी बेहतर थी। नाम दिल्ली ने तय किए, प्रदेश के किसी भी नेता के प्रभाव से परे। चयन का आधार गुटबाजी नहीं, जीत की संभावना रही। इसलिए, दोनों तरफ के उम्मीदवारों का लाइन-अप देखकर लगता है, मुकाबला कांटे है। टिकट न मिलने से निराश नेताओं की बगावत का दौर शुरू हो गया है। यह हर चुनाव में होता है।

Digvijaya: Phoenix rises from the ashes

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NK SINGH I 'm not going to fry pakodas," said Digvijaya Singh when reporters asked him what he intended doing after his six-month Narmada pilgrimage earlier this year.  He is certainly not frying pakodas.  Rising like a phoenix from the ashes, he is on the centre-stage of Madhya Pradesh politics once again. As the Congress returns to power after 15 years, the person who benefited the most from the change in political fortunes was Diggi Raja.  Kamal Nath may have walked away with the chief minister's chair, but it is Singh who is enjoying a sudden surge in power and clout.  In the 28-member Cabinet, some say he has as many as 10 ministers. Others put the number at nine. The newly inducted ministers include his son and nephew.  It is an impressive achievement for someone who had been lying low throughout the election campaign. He was not very visible as many in the Congress party feared that if he straddled centre-stage, the BJP would resume its 'Mr Banta

Disclosure during the last supper

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NK SINGH In the afternoon of 28 September 1991, the then BJP Chief Minister of MP, Sunderlal Patwa, called a press conference at Vallabh Bhavan, the seat of power at Bhopal, to announce the sensational murder of Radical Left labour leader Shankar Guha Niyogi.  Niyogi was sleeping at his union office that also doubled as his residence at Bhilai, now in Chhattisgarh, when assassins pumped bullets in him through an open window of the ground floor bedroom. The sensational killing of the towering Marxist leader, renowned for his widespread influence and reformist ideas, sent shockwaves throughout the State.  At the time of his murder Niyogi was leading a nine-month old strike in many industrial units of Bhilai for proper implementation of the labour laws. The prolonged agitation brought the Leftwing leader in sharp conflict with the industrialists who suffered losses amounting to billions of rupee.  The Rightwing Government of the day sided with the industry and t

नियोगी हत्याकांड: कैसे पूंजीपतियों ने एक क्रांतिकारी को मरवाया

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Shankar Guha Niyogi: The Last Supper NK SINGH नियोगी-हत्याकांड मेरे कैरियर की उन चुनिन्दा घटनाओं में से है जब एक खबरनवीस खुद खबर बन जाता है. सितम्बर के आखिरी हफ्ते में मैं एक स्टोरी के सिलसिले में बस्तर गया था. मेरे साथ फोटो पत्रकार प्रशांत पंजियार भी थे. लौटते में हम भिलाई गए जहाँ शंकर गुहा नियोगी के आन्दोलन की वजह से नौ महीने से कई बड़े कारखाने बंद थे.  दिन में नियोगी से मुलाक़ात के बाद उस दिन हम रायपुर के पास पिकेडली होटल में रुक गए. अगले दिन प्रशांत को दिल्ली का जहाज पकड़ना था और मुझे भोपाल की ट्रेन. नियोगी उन लोगों में थे जिनसे काम के सिलसिले मुलाकातें कब मित्रता में बदल गयी पता ही नहीं चला. उनसे मेरी पहली मुलाकात 1977 में रायपुर जेल में हुई थी। 18   महीने देश को रौंदने के बाद इमरजेंसी उठाई जा चुकी थी। आजादी की हवा में लोग सांस लेना सीख रहे थे। ‘नक्सलवादी’ नियोगी के बारे में छत्तीसगढ़ के अखबारों में लगातार सनसनीखेज और अतिरंजित खबरें छप रही थी। एक जगह छपा कि नियोगी की एक हुंकार पर दल्ली-राजहरा के दस-दस हजार मजदूर हथियार लेकर एक मिनट में सड़क पर आ जाते थे।

Why Congress lost badly in Vindhya

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NK SINGH The figures are worrisome for both the BJP and the Congress.  A detailed analysis of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly election results reveals that, if the Congress had cobbled a pre-poll seat-sharing alliance with the other Opposition parties, it would have been in a position to bag at least 155 seats out of 230.  The anti-BJP alliance would have walked away with a clear two-thirds majority. And the BJP's tally would have shrunk to a measly 75.  It is true that the Congress improved its performance by increasing its vote share by four per cent, winning 114 Vidhan Sabha constituencies. But it is also true that it fell two seats short of absolute majority. The Congress's gain was the BJP's loss. Anti-incumbency against the 15-year-old BJP government led to the ruling party losing four per cent of the vote share. It could win only 109 seats.  The Congress made impressive gains in all geographic sub-regions of the state, including the BJP citadel of Malwa-N

Meeting CMs in their bedrooms and washrooms!

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NK SINGH In my long career as a journalist I have met nearly two dozen chief ministers in various states of the country. But there was no one like Bhairon Singh Shekawat, the former chief minister of Rajasthan. My first meeting with Shekhawat, who later on became the vice president of India, will remain etched in my memory forever. It was early 90s. I had landed in Jaipur in connection with a story about the BJP-ruled states in the country. I sought an appointment with the chief minister. I was asked to come at 8.30 to his official residence for the interview and also join him for breakfast. On the appointed day and time I was outside the CM House in Jaipur’s Civil Lines locality. I was a little apprehensive as my taxi entered its gates.  In my experience, security personnel did not like a vehicle with commercial number plate. But the couple of lazy-looking policemen simply waved the car as I told them that I had an appointment with the CM. This was the first s

बेडरूम और बाथरूम में मुख्यमंत्रियों से मुलाक़ात

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Meeting CMs in their bedroom and washrooms NK SINGH एनके सिंह यह किस्सा भैरों बाबा के बारे में है. मतलब अपने भैरों सिंह शेखावत, जो अरसे तक राजस्थान के मुख्य मंत्री रहे और बाद में भारत के उपराष्ट्रपति बने. भाजपा के कद्दावर नेताओं में से एक.  उनके जैसे राजनेता बिरले होते हैं.  वे भले भाजपा के नेता थे, पर उनके दोस्त अपनी पार्टी में कम और दूसरी पार्टियों में ज्यादा थे. यारबाज आदमी थे. आम लोगों के लिए सर्व सुलभ. लोगों से उनका जीवंत संपर्क किसी भी जमीनी नेता के लिए रश्क का विषय हो सकता है. अख़बारनवीसी की अपनी लम्बी पारी के दौरान मैं विभिन्न राज्य के दर्ज़नों मुख्य मंत्रियों से मिल चुका हूँ. पर भैरों बाबा जैसा दूसरा कोई नहीं मिला, कभी भी. उनसे पहली मुलाक़ात हमेशा याद रहेगी.  मैं इंडिया टुडे में काम करता था और ९० के दशक की शुरुआत में भाजपा राज्यों के काम-काज को नजदीक से देखने के लिए ऐसे सारे राज्यों का दौरा कर रहा था. पहले पड़ाव में जयपुर पहुंचा और फ़ोन पर मुख्य मंत्री से मुलाक़ात का समय लिया. मेरे पास सुबह साढ़े आठ बजे सीएम हाउस पहुँचने का मैसेज आया और साथ में सुबह के जल

The kingmaker becomes the king

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NK SINGH When Kamal Nath was appointed the minister of state for environment in 1991, one of his first acts was to quit smoking. "This is my contribution to environment," he told me then, with a smile. He had a hard time keeping up that promise at the age of 44. Travelling with him soon after that, I noticed him popping up nicotine-laced chewing gums to ward off the craving. But he never succumbed.  Nath is known to take up every task entrusted to him with single-minded pursuit.  Just imagine him landing in the wilderness of rural Chhindwara in 1980 a 33-year-old young man from a prosperous business family, an alumnus of the elite Doon School, a product of Delhi's upper class five-star culture, a buddy of Sanjay Gandhi, the most powerful man in the country.  When the Congress decided to field him from Chhindwara in 1980, Nath was a stark outsider. His detractors decried him as a Doon School crony of Sanjay Gandhi who had been thrust upon MP.  but the youn

Kamal Nath's journey from Davos to Dewas

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NK SINGH Perched atop Bhopal’s Shamla Hills, the CM House is indeed MP’s power centre. Just across the road, overlooking the picturesque Upper Lake, stands another colonial bungalow that has emerged as the state’s second power centre. Only a few feet of asphalt divide the two high profile neighbours. State Congress president Kamal Nath, the occupant of the other house, has pitched a make-shift tent in its sprawling campus. It is to accommodate the perennial stream of visitors. The campus resembles a mela ground. Those making a beeline to the house include political leaders, not necessarily from the Congress party, business tycoons and journalists. Some government officials are also in touch.  Brisk Efficiency Once you enter Nath’s private office, however, the atmosphere changes. The area is pulsating with efficiency. Visitors are ushered in, business is conducted briskly and before they realise it, the next appointee enters to take their place. Nath, 71, has alw