PM Indira Gandhi's 20-Point Programme fails to boost Congress(I) image in Madhya Pradesh

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's 20-Point Programme, which was aimed at boosting the party's image during the Emergency, is doing just the opposite for her Congress(I) in Madhya Pradesh.

The ruling group and the dissidents within the party have seized upon it to get at each other. Chief Minister Arjun Singh's group has been accusing the dissidents - led by Vidya Charan Shukla, Union Minister for Civil Supplies-of hindering its execution. Shukla's followers, on the other hand, are quite insistent that the programme is not being implemented satisfactorily.

They are also peeved at their deliberate exclusion from the 450-odd 20-Point Programme Implementation Committees (PICS) which have been constituted by the state Government in various development blocks.

Complains Munder Sharma, 64, the soft-spoken Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee(I) (MPCC-I) president: "Some Congress(I) leaders of the state are doing the same kind of harm to Arjun Singh as opposition leaders are doing to Mrs Gandhi. I am sure they are doing so at the instigation of Central leaders from the state."