Patwari Plots a Revival

The walls of Jitendra 'Jitu' Patwari's office at his 74 Bungalows residence in Bhopal are covered with photos of the Congress pantheon. 

- Rahul Noronha

But two portraits-that of former Madhya Pradesh chief ministers Kamal Nath, 77, and Digvijaya Singh, 76-stand out, literally framing one of the key issues Patwari faces now. That is, how to work out a seamless transition from the old guard, represented by those two, to the new, of which he is the motif.

Patwari, 50, who took over the reins of the state Congress from Kamal Nath in mid-December, a fortnight after the party failed miserably in dislodging the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the assembly election, faces a trial by fire. There is the Lok Sabha election looming ahead, and the attrition in the Congress's ranksreal and potential is only making his job tougher.

While no one is willing to admit it on record, the Congress leadership has decided not to spread itself too thin. So, 14 out of the 29 Lok Sabha seats have been identified where it has a "realistic" chance of winning, discounting the 15 seats that the Congress has not won for the past five elections, such as Indore, Ujjain, Bhopal and Jabalpur. The seats in sharp focus are those with a substantial tribal population: Dhar, Ratlam, Chhindwara, Balaghat, Shahdol, Mandla and Sidhi. This assessment is based on the ST population's perceived affinity towards the Grand Old Party.