Bhopal: Senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, billed as the face of the party in 2018 Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, has vowed to shun garland till the ruling BJP is ousted from power in the state.
Mr Scindia announced this while he was addressing party workers at Mungaoli in Guna district late on Tuesday evening.
“The BJP government in the state is anti-farmer and it fired bullets at them (during an agitation in June this year). Therefore, I have taken a vow that I will not wear a garland till I ensure an ouster of this government from the state,” Mr Scindia said, speaking at a rally.
The BJP, which has already switched itself to the poll-mode to win power in the state for fourth time in a row, on Wednesday took a jibe at Mr Scindia for his “no garland vow”, quipping, “He (Mr Scindia) may have developed allergy to flowers and been advised to keep away from them”.
Assembly elections are due in Madhya Pradesh along with Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh in eleven months. Mungaoli is part of Mr Scindia’s Lok Sabha constituency, Guna.
“The Congress leader may be scared of getting infected if he comes in contract with flowers or he may have developed allergy to the flowers and been advised to keep away from them. That may be the reason why he decided to avoid garlands,” Madhya Pradesh higher education minister Jaibhan Singh Pawaiya told reporters while reacting to Mr Scindia’s statement.
A byelection is due for the Mungaoli seat following the death of senior Congress MLA Mahendra Singh Kalukheda. Mr Scindia also took a dig at Chouhan for promising anything, asking people to demand the moon from him
The Congress leader also criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government for demonetisation which he said affected people, especially women, in a big way. Notably, Mr Scindia is the face of Congress for MP Assembly elections.
Mr Pawaiya had earlier alleged that Mr Scindia was avoiding handshake with Congress workers fearing that he might get infections by doing so. He had even announced a reward of '1 lakh if any Congress worker could produce a picture showing him shaking hand with Mr Scindia.
Interestingly, social media network sites have been flooded with pictures showing the Congress workers shaking hand with Mr Scindia after the minister made the announcement.. He was forced to reduce the cash award to '10 for each such picture following the development.
