While both Congress and BJP candidates filed their nominations for the Jhabua by-poll on Monday, in an unprecedented mention, Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly Gopal Bhargav claimed that it was not a contest between two parties in Jhabua, but between the two nations—India and Pakistan.
Bhargav was a addressing the first ever public meeting after the party fielded law graduate Bhanu Bhuria as its official candidate for the Jhabua by-election.
“Our candidate represents Hindustan while Kantilal Bhuria (Congress nominee) represents Pakistan,” said Bhargav, probably in a bid to arouse nationalist sentiments in favour of the party nominee.
Bhuria represents such forces who back Pakistan, claimed the senior leader. Bhargav went on to ask the public whether they back the country or Pakistan and asked them to raise their hands to exhibit their support for the country.
Bhargav praised exCM Shivraj Singh Chouhan for bringing development in Jhabua in his 15 years of government. At the same time, Bhargav attacked Congress party candidate Kantilal Bhuria alleging that he served as MLA, MP and union minister but he does not have a single road to his credit in all these years.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Kamal Nath addressed a massive public rally in favour of party candidate. Nath in his address urged the public to look into the history of Congress party claimed it always devised pro-tribal policies alleging that BJP is the party which till a few years ago talked of ending caste based reservation.
On Monday, candidates of both the parties –Kantilal Bhuria for Congress and Bhanu Bhuria for the BJP filed their nomination in the presence of senior party leaders.
However, all did not seem well for Congress as ministers hailing to Jyotiraditya Scindia camp were missing in action while several Kamal Nath and Digvijay Singh loyalist ministers, handling key responsibilities in the bypoll, were present on the occasion.