This was Jyotiraditya Scindia's first rally in Digvijay Singh's turf Raghogarh. File
A war of words erupted in Madhya Pradesh after Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia addressed a public meeting at Raghogarh, the home turf of Congress leader Digvijay Singh, who termed the former a "betrayer" for quitting Congress with MLAs and joining BJP.
Addressing his first rally in Mr Singh's pocket-borough yesterday, Mr Scindia, without naming his ex-colleague in Congress, said the former was not interested in politics and had no passion for development.
During Mr Scindia's rally, several Congress workers, including the son of a former MLA, joined BJP.
Singh, a Rajya Sabha MP, addressed two gatherings on Saturday in Guna and Vidisha district.
"Scindia took advantage of Congress and later joined BJP. He also took our MLAs with him by distributing money. History will not forgive traitors. The generations to come will remember the betrayers," said Mr Singh, who belongs to the Raghogarh royal family, while addressing a rally in Mundela village in the Vidisha district.
"When it comes to the queen of Jhansi, does the name of the Scindia family get mentioned or not (for deceiving)? If he (the then Scindia ruler) had helped Hindu kings in the battle of Panipat, Ahmed Shah Abdali would have lost the battle of Panipat. If Scindia had not betrayed us, the Congress government in MP would have stayed in power even today," he added.
Speaking at another public meeting in the Guna district, Mr Singh alleged that the MLAs who had left Congress to topple the state government in 2020 had received Rs 25 crore each.
Mr Scindia didn't name Mr Singh at Raghogarh, which is currently represented by the Congress leader's son Jaivardhan Singh in the Assembly.
During Mr Scindia's rally, Harendra Singh, son of former Congress MLA Mool Singh, a close confidant of Digvijay Singh, joined BJP along with his supporters.
Without naming Mr Singh, Mr Scindia accused the former of using Mool Singh in politics.
"His (Digvijay Singh's) ideology and thoughts are clear. He is not interested in politics. He has no passion for development," Mr Scindia alleged.
The Union minister said he was hesitant in coming to Raghogarh earlier but now he will continue to come there.
Reacting to Mr Singh's allegations, Madhya Pradesh BJP spokesman Pankaj Chaturvedi, a close confidante of Scindia, told PTI on Sunday that the history of the Raghogarh royal family is full of traitors who helped the foreign invaders during 1775-82.
"Raghogarh's ruler Balwant Singh had helped the invaders against Marathas and Scindias held him captive in Gwalior fort for deceiving the country. Mr Singh's other ancestor Raghuvir Singh had helped the Mughals. His other ancestor Jai Singh had backed the British. Digvijay Singh should study the history of his own family before levelling allegations," he said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)