Guru-chela banter between Digvijaya, Patwari goes viral

Suchandana.Gupta

Bhopal: An internal meeting in the state Congress and a conversation on the dais between guru (teacher) Digvijaya Singh and his chela (follower) PCC chief Jitu Patwari has gone viral. The video showed former chief minister Digvijaya Singh addressing the meeting of the state Congress scheduled caste department which was being attended by PCC chief Jitu Patwari and the party’s national scheduled caste department president Rajendra Gautam on Thursday.

Speaking about the Congress organisation and the contribution made by the SC community, Digvijaya Singh claimed that he has received complaints that no member of the Barot society has been included in the present Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee.

“Paying attention to the composition of the organisation is required,” the former chief minister who was the state Congress president in the late Eighties and Early Nineties said. “Many people told me that there are no members of the Barot community in the state Congress Committee,” he said, addressing the gathering from the dais.

Looking at state Congress president Jitu Patwari, the former chief minister said, “Jitu Bhai, you can get anything written by KC Venugopal. We have full faith in you. No other state president is as free with KC Venugopal the way you are. Does anyone delay any work suggested by you?” Lok Sabha MP KC Venugopal is the Congress’ national general secretary and looks after organisational matters. It is widely that Patwari is close to Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and in that capacity also liked by KC Venugopal.

“Rajendra Gautam is sitting here. Has he ever deferred anything you said? We do not have the grip that you have over AICC,” Digvijaya Singh said and advised that Patwari makes appointments of Barot members to the state Congress Committee.

As Digvijaya Singh spoke, Jitu Patwari meekly muttered, “I am your chela (follower).” An amused Digvijaya Singh acknowledged, “Mera Chela ho. Magar guru rah gaya gur aur chela bann gaya shakkar (You are my chela. But Guru became gurr and chela evolved as sugar).”

State BJP spokesman Ajay Singh Yadav said that Digvijaya Singh’s metaphor reveals the pain he is undergoing seeing his juniors several decades younger controlling the state party unit. “This conversation shows the factional politics within the Congress organisation,” Yadav said.

But the Congress defended the incident differently. “What we saw was the chemistry between the former chief minister and Jitu Patwari,” said former minister PC Sharma.
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