'Announcing CM candidate before polls,not our tradition'

leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly, Ajay Singh today said his party has no tradition of announcing a chief ministerial candidate in any State before polls. Incidentally, Congress leader and former Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, earlier in the day made a pitch for projecting a chief ministerial candidate in Madhya Pradesh.

"There is no tradition in the Congress to announce a chief ministerial face. So far, the party high command never declared a CM candidate in any States, except in Punjab, where Captain Amrinder Singh was made the party face," Singh, who is the leader of Opposition in the State Assembly, told reporters.

"In Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Delhi or other States, Congress never contested polls by announcing CM candidates," he added. Recently, state Congress president Arun Yadav had also said that there is no tradition in the party to declare chief ministerial candidate ahead of the polls.

When asked about the upcoming bypolls in Mungaoli and Kolaras as being viewed as a direct fight between Scindia and the state Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Ajay Singh said the fight is not between any two leaders, but it is a contest between the Congress and the BJP.

Singh slammed Chouhan and his cabinet colleagues for openly violating the Model Code of Conduct during campaign in two Assembly bypolls by making announcements from the dais. 

“It is not good for healthy politics. There are no such traditions, but BJP leader are doing so which is not good for democracy,” he added.