Senior Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh said lack of coordination among Congressmen and failing to be an effective Opposition were the main factors for the consecutive defeats of the party in Madhya Pradesh since 2003.

Speaking to The Statesman during a visit here, the election coordination committee chairman of Madhya Pradesh, Digvijay Singh, said after the defeat in 2003, movements, sit-ins and demonstrations had not been organised on a large scale by the Congress and the party failed to raise public issues strongly in the last 14 years.

“Most movements have been shrunk to Roshanpura circle, governor house and Assembly in Bhopal city, due to which, the common public of the entire state were not connected to the Congress and we lost continuously,” Singh said.

“No one can defeat the Congress if it contests with coordination among party workers and leaders, the deficiency of which has been seen in the party for a long time. But now we are working unitedly which has been bringing strength to the party’s workers,” he said.

Singh said the Congress did not succeed in playing the role of an effective Opposition after its defeat in 2003. “My relevance is more in coordination rather than in the campaign. In 2008 and 2013 Assembly elections, I had suggested to the Congress high command that planning should be done for establishing coordination among the leaders and workers in MP, which were not fulfilled. The possibilities of winning were more in 2013 but due to lack of coordination, we could not win the elections. I suppose coordination is more effective than campaign”, Singh said.

Digvijay Singh was a two-term CM and Congress chief and is known to have a strong hold on workers and organisation in the state. BJP leaders of the state too accept that Singh is the only Congress leader to have a hold in the entire state.

“I am thankful to party president Rahul Gandhi who gave me the responsibility of coordination this time. Now, we all are united and will contest elections together,” Singh added.

“There is no lack of workers in the party. We just need to work with unity. The BJP have a dedicated cadre while Congress doesn’t have,” he said.

Singh said the BJP was adept in using social media to disseminate propaganda. He admitted that the BJP was ahead of Congress in use of social media technology.

“BJP differentiates between Hindus and Muslims in their thoughts and areas, we need to be alert,” Singh said.

“There is no lack of funds in BJP and its leaders. BJP uses rumours for fulfilling its political ambitions by affecting the views of the common people on the basis of fake news,” he said.