Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Monday said just like Maharashtra, the BJP should have made Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia the CM of Madhya Pradesh and Shivraj Singh Chouhan his deputy following the change of government in March 2020.
A section of Congress MLAs and ministers loyal to Mr Scindia revolted against the party leadership more than two years ago, bringing down the Kamal Nath-led government. Mr Scindia left the Congress and joined the BJP. After the saffron party came to power, Mr Chouhan took over as the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, while Mr Scindia later became a Union Cabinet member.
Mr Singh took potshots at the BJP for its surprise decision to make Shiv Sena rebel Eknath Shinde the chief minister of Maharashtra and appointing its own senior leader Devendra Fadnavis as his deputy.
“This reflects the BJP's dual character. Scindia left the Congress to join the BJP, but he was denied the chief minister's post. While Eknath Shinde became the Maharashtra chief minister, the one who was contender for the top post became his deputy (referring to Fadnavis).
“They should have made Scindia the chief minister and Chouhan the deputy chief minister,” he remarked, addressing a meeting at Bamori town in Guna district ahead of local body elections in the state.
Guna is the home district of Mr Singh and his ancestral town, Raghogarh, is situated here.
Mr Singh said now he doesn't need to get afraid of his former party colleague Mr Scindia, who was seen as the former's rival in the Congress.
"It was me who brought Scindia's father late Madhavrao Scindia into the Congress because both Sanjay Gandhi and Arjun Singh (former MP CM and ex-union minister) asked me to do so. Many old Congress leaders that time got annoyed with me as their political career got over because of it, but I used to pacify them,” Mr Singh said.
The former chief minister was campaigning for local body elections on the last day of canvassing. Polling will be held on Wednesday.
Former state minister and Mr Singh's son Jaivardhan Singh was also present on the occasion.
At the event, Digvijaya Singh released the party's 'Sankalp Patra' (manifesto) for local body elections.
Despite heavy rains, people did not leave the venue of the meeting and were seen protecting themselves against downpour by using chairs.
Mr Singh praised them for their patience and said “This only reflects our victory.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
