Seventy-year-old Digvijay Singh, AICC general secretary and former Chief Minister, began his six-month Narmada yatra from Barman Ghat in Narsinghpur district on Saturday.
Before starting his yatra, he offered prayers to lord Shiva at Jyoteshwar. He also met Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati at his Ashram.
Singh is accompanied by his wife and in coming six months, he has decided to remain aloof from political activities. A documentary of the whole yatra is being prepared.
When asked about reports that the State Government had not properly responded to his plea seeking mobile toilets for his 3,300 km long yatra, Singh said, “I wrote a letter to Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and Chief Secretary seeking mobile toilets among other things during my yatra (6-months), but an Under Secretary has replied to me stating that issues raised by me have been sent to departments concerned.”
“This is how the protocol is being followed in the State,” Singh, the former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister said.
“I had been cold shouldered over hygiene issue,” he added. “Nowadays anything can happen. Political hounding is going on in the country,” Singh said.
In next six months, the Congress leader will pass through 110 Assembly constituencies in Madhya Pradesh and 20 Assembly constituencies in Gujarat during his journey.
Assembly elections are due in the BJP-ruled State next year.
Singh, descendant of the erstwhile Royal family of Raghogarh, would be missing Dussehra festival — falling on September 30 — celebrations at the Raghogarh fort in Guna district for the first time this year. His family’s tradition of celebrating Dussehra in a grand way dates backs to over three centuries.