BHOPAL: Almost five and half years after Jyotiraditya Scindia and his 22 loyalist MLAs switched sides and toppled the Kamal Nath-led Congress government in Madhya Pradesh, a podcast interview has revived the debate around what actually caused the fall of the 15-month-old regime.What sparked the debate is the statements made by former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and current Rajya Sabha member Digvijaya Singh during a podcast interview with a senior journalist. The Congress had returned to power in Madhya Pradesh after 15 years under the leadership of former Union minister and then state party chief Kamal Nath in December 2018. The government, which relied on the support of seven MLAs — four independents, two from the BSP and one from the SP — lasted 15 months before 22 Congress legislators loyal to Jyotiraditya Scindia resigned from the party and the Vidhan Sabha to join the BJP.On 20 March 2020, Nath resigned, paving the way for the BJP’s return to power.During a podcast interview on Saturday, Digvijaya Singh said that despite his sustained efforts to save the government, the Congress regime collapsed due to a personal clash between Scindia and Nath. “There was no ideological clash, but instead clash of personalities (between Nath and Scindia),” he claimed. “I’m often blamed for the fall of the Congress government in 2020, but the truth is that I continuously worked to save the government. I had even timely warned about the possibility of such a crisis (fall of government),” Singh said. “I met an industrialist who enjoys good relations with both the leaders (Nath and Scindia) and told him about the possibility of the government falling. A luncheon meeting was arranged at that industrialist’s house, where all three of us (Nath, Scindia and me) were present. I tried my best to ensure that the crisis was averted,” he said.
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