Senior Congress leader and former Digvijaya Singh’s absence during party president Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Madhya Pradesh on Monday to formally launch the party’s campaign for the upcoming assembly polls has raised many eyebrows. Though Madhya Pradesh Congress president Kamal Nath, party MP Jyotiraditya Scindia were seen accompanying Rahul during his day-long visit, Singh was spotted nowhere in the frame and stayed away from the event, triggering a fresh round of spat within the party’s state unit leadership. However, what grabbed attention was the hashtag #Digvijaya4CM that began trending on Twitter on Monday just around the time the Congress president touched down in the state capital.

When media reported about Digvijaya’s absence and the Twitter trend, he sought to play down the entire sequence saying he has no ambition of becoming the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh again.

“Whoever has started Digvijay4CM is not my well-wisher. I have been CM MP for a decade and there is no question of my going back on my statement that I AM NOT A CM CANDIDATE. I am not someone who would say something and do something else,” his tweet reads.


Also, cut-outs of Digvijaya and photos were missing from the posters that were put up across Bhopal in view of Rahul’s visit to kick-start Congress’ campaign. This also hinted that the party may have sidelined him and he is in no mood of taking any risk that court hurt its chance of winning the polls. Digvijaya often invites criticism and embarrassment for the Congress because of his outspoken attitude and targeting the Hindus.

In Madhya Pradesh, the Congress party is virtually divided into three factions. While one is led by Digivijaya who has served as the CM between 1993 and 2003, the remaining two others are led by Nath and Scindia. The Congress had earlier this year appointed Nath as the state unit’s president and claimed that all top leaders are united.