Pause in Diggy-Jyotiraditya battle for dominance

Bhopal, Feb 18 (UNI) A battle for one-upmanship between All India Congress Committee General Secretary and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijay Singh versus Guna MP Jyotiraditya Scindia has halted for the time being courtesy the high command's intervention but there is apprehension that the embers are still shouldering.

''A tug-of-war involving rallies has come to a stop in the state and no difference of opinion exists among party leaders. The duo were organising raliies to unify Congress workers, expand the party's mass base and protest against the (Bharatiya Janata Party) regime's policies,'' state unit President Subhash Yadav told UNI.

Congress sources said a camp will be organised at Indore next month for establishing coordination between Mr Singh and the Scindia scion.

''Both sides agreeing not to stage rallies does not necessarily imply that they are seeing eye to eye,'' a senior office-bearer said.

For the past few days, the leader duo were levelling allegations and counter-allegations at rallies. Taking a dim view, the high command banned any party rally organised sans the permission of the state president and his district-level counterparts. Despite that, Mr Singh and Mr Scindia went ahead with raliies.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who was certainly not amused, called the duo to New Delhi yesterday and expressed her annoyance.

The Congress' Madhya Pradesh incharge V Narayansamy and Mr Yadav were also present at that meeting.

Mr Singh and the late Madhavrao Scindia, a former union minister, had a long-drawn dispute and a meeting was organised at Dabra for forging an understanding. That meeting became known as the 'Dabra Spirit', which was shortlived.

The sources said the present battle for dominance is not only whittling away the party's mass base but also putting its workers in a dilemma. The Congress was routed in the 2003 Assembly election and rejected during recent bypolls.

Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Jamuna Devi, a former deputy chief minister, avoided comment on the rallies.

UNI