Those like state finance minister Ajay Mushran -- who seems to be running the administration during Digvijay's absence -- are outraged at the suggestion. ``He didn't go there immediately because it would have hampered rescue and relief work,'' is his explanation. ``He is briefed in the morning and evening daily,'' chips in the Chief Secretary.

The fact that Digvijay has hardly spent a day in Bhopal since the beginning of the electoral process is not without significance. As one of his supporters puts it: ``If the Congress turns the tables on the BJP this time, it will be primarily because of Digvijay Singh.''

Thismay sound to be a tall claim in a state where two former chief ministers Shyama Charan Shukla (Mahasamund) and Motilal Vora (Rajnandgaon) and other heavyweights, like Madhavrao Scindia (Guna), Kamal Nath (Chindwara) and Ajit Jogi (Shahdol) are batting for the Congress. But Digvijay fans who seem to be proliferating among the political and bureaucratic elite point toward evidence in the field. Digvijay was by the side of most of the veterans when they filed their nomination. He is the only leader to have campaigned in all the 40 constituencies in the state, addressing eight to 10 meetings every day without a breather.

In fact, Singh had embarked on a mammoth public relations exercise in Madhya Pradesh at the beginning of his second innings. He visited almost every district twice in connection with the formation of zila sarkars (district governments). He helihopped to 72 remote villages during a week-long Gram Sampark Abhiyan in April. ``In Madhya Pradesh Digvijay Singh has come to symbolise development,''says an MPCC functionary. ``He had launched a campaign for the Congress much before the elections were announced.''

In his second successive tenure, Singh now apparently wants to play a bigger role in national politics. And if the Congress can really outfox the BJP in a state where it could get only eight seats in 1996 and 10 in 1998 out of 40, it should do the trick. It will prove that it was his touch -- and no onion-potato fluke -- that enabled the party to sprint up to the winning post in the assembly elections, fighting anti-incumbency winds.

A failure, on the other hand, would embolden his detractors. They have branded Singh's attempts to give a human face to development through Rajiv Gandhi missions, panchayat raj and zila sarkars as ``populist gimmicks which won't fool people for long.''

But the risk is a calculated one. A Congress defeat in Madhya Pradesh would be a personal embarrassment only if the party does well elsewhere in the Hindi heartland.

As for MP politics, now that Arjun Singhhas gone into hibernation and a friendly critic like Madhavrao Scindia has turned into an admirer, the stage seems set for Digvijay to be in absolute command. But the canny politician that he is, MP's always-smiling CM is moving with caution. During the selection of the party candidates, he managed to secure maximum berths for his loyalists without treading on the toes of leaders like Kamal Nath and Scindia. And when he cut Chattisgarh satrap V.C. Shukla to size, he did so with a smile, propping up elder brother S.C.Shukla as Bhishmapitamah.

Of course, in some of the constituencies his interest is more personal. Like in Indore where he could get a party nomination for his friend, Mahesh Joshi, only after offering a personal guarantee for his victory to the party high command. Or in Rajgarh, where he has been camping for the past four days before the polling to ensure that nakali Krishna Nitish Bharadwaj would not steal his brother, Laxman Singh's thunder.

But Digvijay's game-plan made it imperative forhim to remain in Chattisgarh during the last phase of campaigning despite a furious Narmada playing havoc in large parts of the state. For in Chattisgarh, a sulking V.C. Shukla is there to frustrate his designs. A failure in Chattisgarh -- where reputations of seniors like Motilal Vora, S.C Shukla and Paras Ram Bharadwaj are at stake -- could lay Digvijay open to the charge by V.C.Shukla supporters that he wants some party heavyweights to lose ``even at the cost of the party.''