Digvijaya Singh steps aside from Rajya Sabha: What his exit means for Congress and party renewal

Singh’s current six-year term in the Upper House ends on April 9.

• Digvijaya Singh won't seek another Rajya Sabha term, ending tenure on April 9.
• Congress seeks to enhance SC representation and renew organization in MP.
• Singh may focus on grassroots work and mentoring younger leaders in the state

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Veteran Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh, on Tuesday, said he will not seek another term in the Rajya Sabha, a move that party leaders see as part of a broader push to promote social representation and organisational renewal in the state unit.

Singh’s current six-year term in the Upper House ends on April 9.

The announcement came amid demands within the party for greater Scheduled Caste representation in Parliament. Earlier in the day, Madhya Pradesh Congress Scheduled Caste Department president Pradeep Ahirwar wrote to Singh, urging him to vacate his seat to make way for an SC representative.

“Placing before you the sentiments and expectations of nearly 17 per cent of Madhya Pradesh’s Scheduled Caste population, I urge you to ensure representation from the SC category in the Rajya Sabha this time,” Ahirwar said in his letter, adding that such a step would strengthen Dalit self-respect and political participation.

Asked about the request, Singh told reporters, “This is not in my hands. I can only say this much — I am vacating my seat.”

Singh has been a Rajya Sabha MP since 2014 and previously served two consecutive terms as Madhya Pradesh chief minister from 1993 to 2003. After the Congress lost power in the state in 2003, he announced a decade-long break from electoral politics before returning in 2013. In recent years, he has contested and lost the 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

According to senior Congress leaders, Singh’s decision aligns with Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s emphasis on rebuilding the party by encouraging younger leadership while redeploying senior leaders for grassroots work.

“Singh has strong organisational experience and grassroots connect. The idea is to use that strength to revive the party structure at the booth and block levels,” a senior leader familiar with the discussions said.

Party functionaries have indicated that Singh could once again undertake a Narmada Parikrama, on the lines of his 3,300-km circumambulation of the river in 2017-18, which had helped energise the Congress ahead of the 2018 Assembly elections. A second parikrama, a leader said, would “help mobilise workers, mentor younger leaders and provide a unifying narrative for a divided state unit”.

The challenge ahead remains steep.

The Madhya Pradesh Congress has spent much of the past two decades in opposition, leaving its organisation weakened by dormant booth committees, factionalism and the fallout of the 2020 defections that brought down the Kamal Nath government.

During his Rajya Sabha tenure, Singh emerged as one of the Congress’s most vocal ideological voices, frequently taking on the BJP and the RSS. While this earned him support among secular and progressive sections, it also made him a polarising figure.

Last month, Singh triggered a political debate when he praised the organisational strength of the BJP and the RSS and referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rise from a party worker to the country’s top post. He later clarified that he remained “one of the strongest critics of the RSS’s ideology and the functioning of Narendra Modi and his policies”.

With Singh stepping aside from parliamentary ambitions, Congress leaders say the party is attempting to balance social justice, organisational rebuilding and generational change as it prepares for future electoral contests in Madhya Pradesh.