Scrambling to reboot MP Congress, Jitu Patwari grapples with shadows of Kamal Nath, Digvijaya

From the show-cause notices issued recently to about 150 local Congress leaders to explain allegations of anti-party activities during the Assembly polls, to the dissolution of the state Congress working committee last month – the new Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president, Jitu Patwari, 50, seems to have started reshaping the party, even as the All India Congress Committee (AICC) leadership has entrusted him with the responsibility of “freeing” the state unit from the “dominating influence” of its veteran satraps.

According to some Congress insiders, Patwari – who was named the MPCC chief last month following the party’s humiliating defeat by the incumbent BJP in the November 2023 Assembly polls – had been given the task of “breaking various syndicates plaguing the party” in Madhya Pradesh. He has currently been travelling through the entire state, addressing Congress workers in a bid to rejuvenate the party’s youth leadership. However, his attempts, some party leaders say, will not lead to a breakthrough anytime soon.

“Patwari has been trying to balance the old leaders with the young. That is difficult since his task is to break the influence of senior leaders and their syndicates. In the state the two tallest leaders are Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh, and their syndicates still thrive. It is going to be a complex operation to reshape the party. No big leader came to his ceremony when he became the president even after youth leaders showed up. Patwari balanced this by showing respect to senior leaders which has irked the Congress high command since they want him to finish off the syndicates,” said a senior party leader.

Adding to the complications for Patwari, a former minister, is the fact that his political