After the collapse of the

government,

in-charge of state affairs Deepak Babaria tells TOI’s Subodh Ghildiyal that the

regime started on a wrong note and

was flush with funds to lure MLAs. Excerpts:

Why could Congress’s Madhya Pradesh government not last 15 months?

Is BJP’s inducement the only reason for collapse of the Kamal Nath government?

The impression is that as the AICC in-charge, your writ did not run in the state Congress?

How was the state government doing?

Given the very public factional feuds, even the central leadership failed in righting the ship?

I think the biggest reason is BJP’s relentless attempts to bring down state governments of rival parties. They pump in crores of rupees and human beings are prone to inducements. Our big leaders like Jyotiraditya Scindia and rebel MLAs put their self-interest above people’s interests. Scindia had a promising place in Congress but his ambition to be the CM proved very strong. He was offered deputy CM’s post, also promised Rajya Sabha seat and assured he would be made state Congress president later. But he lost patience and could not see himself living without power.People voted Congress to power with high hopes and if MP Congress leadership had started on the right note… we started from day one in the wrong direction. The workers and people had expectations but we failed to establish communication with them or gain their trust. To fight BJP and its massive allurements, you need confidence of people (to keep MLAs in check). BJP succeeded in exploiting the hunger of power of our leaders and spent Rs 1,000 crore to bring down the state government.As a representative of the high command, I tried to establish dialogue and consensus for decision-making. But I could not convince the state leadership to adopt this healthy practice. I am a small worker but with 45 years of experience. I am among those few Congressmen who understand organisation. I tried to bring all leaders together. I told them, as did Rahul Gandhi , that they should not impose their choice but ask workers what they want. But our three leaders — Kamal Nath, Digvijaya Singh and Scindia — were not ready to change. They had such strong perceptions that they could not easily accept advice from others. It is difficult to mould the thinking or change the working style of someone after a certain age. Even the biggest Congress leader cannot change them.The threat of MLAs that their demands be accepted or they will go away took a toll on chief minister Kamal Nath who adopted the easy path of letting the government run as it could. It compromised healthy practices of governance. Our leaders made mistakes. We should have taken the right direction from day one but we could not. If we had accepted a merit-based system (of ministry and decisionmaking), then we would have earned people’s goodwill.It is a big issue. Sooner rather than later, Rahul Gandhi should again take the responsibility of leading Congress. He may be feeling that the party does not understand the hard work he puts in and that he should take a back seat. It is his decision to take.