Minding his flock

On May 26, even before the dust raised by the Congress's crushing Lok Sabha defeat at the hands of the BJP in Madhya Pradesh had settled, Chief Minister Kamal Nath convened a meeting of all MLAs supporting his six-month-old government. The decisive mandate to the NDA government at the Centre had come as a wake-up call for the Congress-led state government, which is now busy assessing the threat from the BJP and figuring ways to control the damage.

At the meeting, the message to all MLAs was to stick together and keep an eye on each other. Most importantly, they were told that their 'interests' would be taken care of. Nath held one on-one meetings with more than two dozen MLAs, most of whom had complained about the high-handedness of ministers and bureaucrats.

Questions about longevity had started doing the rounds soon after the government assumed power last December, with Congress leaders alleging that attempts were being made