For the past three days, several ministers and key leaders in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh sat through two-hour-long recitals on Deendayal Upadhyaya’s life and philosophy, almost along the lines of the Ram katha , underscoring the Jana Sangh ideologue’s status within the parivar. Among those who sat and heard Alok Kumar, a senior RSS functionary, narrate the story of Upadhyaya’s life were chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Assembly Speaker Sitasharan Sharma, state party chief Nandkumar Chauhan and several ministers.