Division of MP had raised Scindia’s chance

bhopal: destiny could not have reserved a more untimely end for madhavrao scindia, one of the four ''pillars'' in the relatively calm political landscape of madhya pradesh. though never a major player in the numbers game within the mpcc compared to heavyweights like arjun singh, kamal nath and digvijay singh, he had seldom been better poised in state's politics.in pure political terms, scindia's writ in the state did not extend beyond 36-38 odd assembly seats within the gwalior division. most of his nominees, including his closest friend, balendu shukla, a state minister, failed to get elected in the last assembly polls. scindia rarely visited bhopal and never tried to project himself as a future chief minister. but, the general impression was that he had ''higher priorities''. ironically enough, scindia was the only player who had the potential of emerging as a mass leader. arjun singh never made the grade and digvijay is still struggling to achieve that status despite seven straight years in power. in places where scindia is revered as the ''maharaj'', his surname was enough to draw crowds. this was amply in evidence during his recent public contact meetings in mandsaur, ratlam, and shajapur which though outside his area of immediate influence, is historically within the ambit of the old scindia domain. much criticised for refusing to slip out of his ''royal'' mindset (''he always thought he was a cut above us lesser mortals,'' said a party colleague), friends say scindia may have sensed that the time to nurture and strengthen his political base had arrived. the carving of chhatisgarh and the resulting shrinkage of mp boosted his political relevance. and the recent shoot-out incident in which one mpcc general secretary (of the digvijay singh-radhakishan malviya camp) tried gunning down another (manak agrawal) who was his loyalist had improved his chances of calling the shots in the revamped mpcc whose composition has still to be announced. scindia loyalists argue that the shoot-out had convinced the leadership that the party's image could only be salvaged if the day-to-day running of the state unit was given to a brand new team which did not derive its political sustenance from the local leadership. his unexpected demise could only mean further consolidation of powers in the hands of digvijay singh, who in the best of times never had a particularly cosy relationship with scindia.