Bhopal: As the Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh are getting closer, the ruling BJP seems to have started reiterating that the state Congress unit has suffered with factionalism and groupism.
One after another senior BJP leaders have strategically stated making statements that two former Chief Ministers – Digvijaya Singh and Kamal Nath have divided the Congress for their political gain.
The fresh such remarks were made by medical education minister Vishvas Sarang on Monday. In a video message, Sarang, who is MLA from Narela constituency in Bhopal, said the Congress has always suffered because of internal fights between top leaders. He took a dig at the opposition claiming that the Congress leaders do not miss opportunities to insult each other.
“Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh over ticket distribution. They are fighting to give the maximum number of tickets for their supported candidates. Kamal Nath does not miss a chance to insult Digvijaya Singh and the latter also does the same when gets an opportunity. It is happening from Delhi to Bhopal,” Sarang claimed in a video message on Monday.
The BJP leader, meanwhile, cited the recent development when Digvijaya Singh reached Sagar district and during a two-day visit there, he held meetings with the party’s district leaders and workers.
Singh has alleged the state police have implicated Congress workers on fake charges to harass them and it has happened on the direction of the BJP leaders. Notably, on Sunday, Nath along with Digvijaya Singh and Leader of Opposition Govind Singh had met Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan at latter’s residence and handed over him a letter requesting to form a committee to probe the matter under the supervision of the Assembly Speaker Girish Gautam.
Digvijaya has claimed that “several people associated with the Congress have been targeted for political enmity; they have been implicated with fake charges, especially in Datia, Sagar and Tikamgarh districts.” Pointing on Digvijaya’s visit to Sagar, Sarang said, “Digvijaya’s visit to Sagar did not go down well with Kamal Nath.”
However, Sarang wasn’t the first BJP minister who made such remarks on Digvijaya and Nath.
On Sunday, another minister in Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s cabinet, Govind Singh Rajput, stated, “There is a huge difference between the work style of Digvijaya Singh and Kamal Nath.”
Rajput, an MLA from Surkhi assembly constituency in Sagar district, was among those who in March 2020, shifted to the BJP with Jyotiraditya Singh, resulting in the end of the Kamal Nath-led Congress government within two years after getting back to power.
“Had Digvijaya Singh been CM of Madhya Pradesh, perhaps the Congress government wouldn’t have gone out of power. The nature of Kamal Nath caused harm to Congress,” the minister said on Sunday.
Last week, when senior Congress leader Raja Pateriya made controversial remarks – ‘be ready to kill PM Modi, if want to save the country….. killing in the sense of defeating Modi’, the state Congress committee not only condemned the statement but also issued him notice asking – ‘why he should not be expelled from the party.’
However, the Leader of Opposition Govind Singh stood in support of Pateriya. Both, Govind Singh and Raja Pateriya are considered from Digvijaya Singh’s group. The Congress termed the BJP leader’s remarks baseless.
“After ruling the state for more than 17 years, they (BJP) have nothing to say about what they have done, which is why they are making such false claims. But their strategy is not going to work. The Congress is united and ready to take on the BJP. Actually, the factionalism is high within the BJP, and it is clearly visible. They are being exposed everyday. Digvijaya Singh has said it several times from the state that Kamal Nath is our leader and the party will contest the 2023 assembly election under his direction,” said state Congress spokesperson Abbas Hafeez.
