The March 2020 defection of Congress MLAs to BJP, led by Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia that caused the collapse of Kamal Nath-led government, continues to be a bristly issue in Madhya Pradesh politics and seems to be becoming bitterer as Assembly polls approach.
The issue led to an indirect war of words between ex-Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh and Scindia on Friday, yet again.
At a press conference in Ujjain, while replying to a question on a situation similar to 2020 coming up if Congress formed government after Assembly polls, Digvijaya Singh quipped, ‘’O God! O Mahakal! Let not another Jyotiraditya Scindia be born in Congress.”
Sometime later, Scindia took to Twitter and quoting a report on Digivijaya’s quip, said “O Lord Mahakal! Please let not an anti-national and Madhya Pradesh’s ‘bantadhar’ (destroyer) like Digvijaya Singh ji be born in India.”
Digvijaya Singh and the entire Madhya Pradesh Congress have repeatedly attacked Scindia over his defection and other Congress MLAs to BJP, calling them ‘traitors’.
On Friday too, answering queries of local media, Digvijaya Singh said that Congress government collapsed as some affluent MLAs wanted to earn more and therefore, ‘rajas’ and ‘maharajas’ (as Scindia is referred to) got sold to BJP, but, SC/ST and not so affluent MLAs did not betray Congress despite getting offers of Rs 25-50 crore. He pointed at Congress’s Ghatia MLA Ramlal Malviya and Tarana MLA Mahesh Parmar while saying this.
Singh further said that this time, Congress will ensure to select such candidates who will be ‘tikau’ (sustainable) and not ‘bikau’ (saleable). To another question, the ex-CM also said that more stringent provisions were needed in anti-defection law and any elected representative who switched parties should be barred from contesting polls for six years and not given any government posts.
Digvijaya Singh is on a tour to 66 such assembly constituencies in the state that the Congress has not won during the past two to three elections. He is conducting meetings with party workers and office-bearers and getting feedback on the ground situation while giving them pep talk for the upcoming polls. Digvijaya Singh has started a two-day visit to Ujjain on Friday, where he will hold a meeting in Ujjain North from where BJP ex-minister Paras Jain has won six consecutive times and Ujjain South from where Education Minister Mohan Yadav has won two terms.
