Can Congress’ Digvijaya Singh Make His Ghar Wapsi In Rajgarh After A 33-Year Hiatus? (image-Facebook/Digvijaya Singh)
Popularly known as Raghogarh Raja or Raja Sahab, the former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and Congress Rajya Sabha member Digvijaya Singh is expecting to make a return to Rajgarh Lok Sabha constituency, or what is referred to as Singh’s stronghold.
Despite not being in power for over 33 years in Rajgarh, Singh has deep ties with the parliamentary seat. All the way back in 1969, Singh served as the president of the Raghogarh Nagar Palika. Moving up the ranks, Singh was elected as the MLA of Raghogarh Vidhan Sabha in 1977, a seat previously held by his father, Balbhadra Singh, as an independent candidate in 1951. Notably, his father was the Raja of Raghogarh, which is now known as Guna.
He continued to be the MLA for the assembly segment in 1980 and 1984. In the general elections of 1984, Singh entered national politics and made history by being the first Congress candidate to win the Rajgarh Lok Sabha seat. After a loss in 1989, he reclaimed the seat in 1991.
After serving as the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh from 1993 to 2003, his brother Laxman Singh took over the Rajgarh seat and served five times as MP. After Congress lost power in the state after the 2004 general elections, Singh abstained from the polls for the next 10 years. Sticking to his words, he continued to serve as party general secretary from 2004 to 2018. After serving as a Rajya Sabha MP since 2014, he lost the 2019 polls to BJP candidate Sadhvi Pragya Thakur by a margin of 3.6 lakh votes in Bhopal.
Returning after over three decades, the 77-year-old veteran leader undertook the Pad Yatra, covering over 100 km across the Rajgarh Lok Sabha constituency, soon after his candidature was announced by the party.
“My forefathers contributed immensely and were instrumental in the development of this region. This is my last election hence I need people’s support and blessing to achieve and ensure victory,” he said, as quoted by the Deccan Herald.
Facing Singh is the two-time MLA and the OBC candidate, Rodmal Nagar, who breached the grand old party’s stronghold over the seat in 2014. Coming from the Kirar community, which has a significant influence in the region, Nagar defeated Congress’ Mona Sustani by a huge margin of 4 lakhs in 2019. However, Sustani, who was Singh’s choice, quit Congress and shook hands with the BJP ahead of the elections.
With extensive experience over the years in both state and national politics in Madhya Pradesh, Singh is a staunch critic of right-wing ideologies and politics. Whether the people of Rajgarh have forgotten Singh after his three-decade hiatus and embraced the BJP remains to be seen.
