leader of opposition in the Madhya Pradesh assembly Ajay Singh on Monday said that the Congress does not have the tradition of declaring chief ministerial candidate in the states where it has been in opposition.
While talking to media persons, Singh said, “The Congress party goes into the election under the leadership of the sitting Chief Minister in the state where it is in power, while in the States we are in opposition the collective leadership takes on the reigns of campaigning.”
Citing example of his father late Arjun Singh and Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh, he further said, “When my father was chief minister of the State, the Congress went to polls under his leadership and similarly when Digvijay Singh was the Chief Minister, the party went to polls under his leadership.
Singh said that the states where the party remains in opposition, it goes into polls in the collective leadership of State Congress president, leader of opposition in the state assembly and other senior leaders like it did in Karnataka and claimed that the same procedure would be adopted in the state’s election scheduled later in the year.
He said that the Congress party stands united in the State and would go to polls under the joint leadership of PCC president Kantilal Bhuria, myself, union ministers from the state and other senior leaders including Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh, former PCC chief Suresh Pachouri and others. Countdown for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government’s debacle has started and the united Congress would uproot it, he added.
Notably, a section of the Congress workers from the state is demanding to project Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia as the chief ministerial candidate. last month, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh had gave a thrust to Jyotiraditya Scindia's potential candidature as Chief Minister.
"I have no doubt in my mind that Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia is the front-runner for the post of the Chief Minister in Madhya Pradesh if the party wins this year's assembly elections," Singh, who had been Chief Minister for two terms, had said.