Battle Lines in Raghogarh

THE GLOVES ARE OFF Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia in Raghogarh on Dec. 4; Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh (inset)

- Rahul Noronha

Union minister and BJP MP Jyotiraditya Scindia’s presence at a public meeting in Raghogarh—a Congress bastion and home turf of former chief minister Digvijaya Singh—on December 4 in Madhya Pradesh’s Guna district has sent political temperatures soaring in the state. Scindia was in town to preside over a function marking the formal induction of Hirendra Singh, a distant relative of Digvijaya Singh, into the BJP.

In the past, Raghogarh has been represented by Digvijaya Singh, his brother Lakshman Singh and Hirendra Singh’s father, Mool Singh. For the past two terms, it has been represented by former state minister Jaivardhan Singh, son of Digvijaya Singh. That Scindia and Digvijaya Singh have had a combative relationship, even when they were in the same party, is an open secret. To invoke the martial backgrounds of the two, Scindia had taken the battle to the enemy camp.