Stones were pelted at the vehicle carrying Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Churhat area near Sidhi district and a slipper was hurled at him when he was addressing an election rally at Sidhi on Monday. Chouhan is touring the state as part of his Jan Ashirwad Yatra ahead of the assembly polls in the state.
The campaign vehicle of the chief minister was pelted with stones on Sunday night when he was in Churhat which is the assembly constituency of Congress MLA Ajay Singh, the leader of opposition in the MP legislative assembly. Churhat used to be the home village of legendary Congress leader late Arjun Singh, now represented by his son Ajay Singh.
Sources said members of Karni Sena threw stones at the vehicle, in protest against the BJP's decision to favour reservation and SC/ST Act. The chief minister escaped unhurt.
In a separate incident at Majholi village near Churhat, a woman hurled a slipper at the chief minister while he was addressing a rally, forcing his security officials to whisk him away from the dais.
Though the BJP played down the incident of hurling the slipper, the party condemned the stone-pelting. The chief minister accused the Congress of resorting to cheap techniques to oppose him. “It is unfortunate that a Congress leader has to resort to these techniques to oppose me. It has never happened in the state. Violence was never used to settle political or ideological differences,” he said.
Meanwhile, the police arrested nine people in connection with the stone-pelting incident. Home Minister Bhupendra Singh said all the nine arrested are members of the Congress party and added that a detailed investigation into the incident is under way. He further claimed that this was a ploy to kill the chief minister.
