THE LOTUS BEATERS

If there’s a spoiler in the BJP’s vision of a ‘Congressmukt Bharat’, it is Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh—the Congress occupies all the crucial elected posts here. State Congress president and former chief minister Kamal Nath is an MLA from the Chhindwara assembly constituency while his son Nakul represents the seat in the Lok Sabha. The other six assembly segments in the parliamentary constituency are also in Congress hands. On July 17, Vikram Singh Ahake, the Congress candidate in Chhindwara, won the mayoral polls. The post of district panchayat president is also likely to go to Congress since it has a majority among district panchayat members. Kamal sure isn’t making it easy for the kamal (lotus).