Digvijay Singh to contest from Bhopal, confirms MP CM
In its seventh list of candidates announced in New Delhi on Friday night, the party declared its picks for nine Lok Sabha seats.
Bhopal: Ending weeklong speculation, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath on Saturday declared that veteran party leader Digvijay Singh would contest from Bhopal Lok Sabha seat, considered a BJP bastion, in the upcoming polls.
Barely an hour after the announcement, saffron leader Sadhvi Pragyan who has recently been acquitted in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, declared that she was ready to fight against Mr Singh in Bhopal to “settle her personal score” with him. “I am ready to take on Mr Singh, if BJP decides. I consider enemy of the country is my enemy. I consider Digvijay Singh as my enemy”, she told reporters. Sadhvi was being treated for cancer in an ayurvedic hospital.
Earlier, attending the meet-the-press programme, Mr Nath said, “The Central Election Committee (CEC) of the party has decided that Digvijay Singh will contest from Bhopal”.
Mr Nath said, “I had earlier asked Digvijay Singhji to choose one of the three difficult constituencies, Bhopal, Indore and Jabalpur, to contest from, instead of opting for Rajgarh seat. The CEC has decided to field him in Bhopal”.
Last week, the chief minister had literally thrown a challenge at Mr Singh asking him to choose the “toughest” seat to contest from if he desired to enter the fray in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Meanwhile, the Congress has changed the seat allotted to its Uttar Pradesh unit chief Raj Babbar from Moradabad to Fatehpur Sikri, in an apparent bid to make the Lok Sabha contest easier for the actor-turned-politician.
In its seventh list of candidates announced in New Delhi on Friday night, the party declared its picks for nine Lok Sabha seats.