While Rajya Sabha member and senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh was not allowed to meet Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, former chief minister Kamal Nath met Chouhan at the Airport. This erupted a political controversy, as Digvijay Singh had already declared that he would stage a dharna at CM's residence, if he is not allowed to meet the Chief Minister.
Ironically, Nath too was slated to visit the dharna sit after reaching Bhopal. After he came out of the airport, Nath got annoyed when stated that Chouhan provided time to meet him, but did not allow Digvijay Singh. Nath stated that the meeting was not fixed. He met Chouhan by chance, as he too was returning from Chhindwara.
As announced earlier, Singh staged a dharna along with Congress workers at Doordarshan Kendra in Shyamkla Hilla, which is at a close distance from the CM House. During the dharna, Singh informed that CM House had offered him an appointment afresh for January 23. Singh affirmed that if farmers' issues are not addressed, they won't allow any machinery to enter four districts where the projects are pending.
Nath, who had also joined the dharna, lost his cool as he was leaving the site and the media posed him a query why the chief minister offered him an appointment while declined the same to his colleague. An angry Nath hit back saying it was rubbish, he only met Chouhan coincidentally.
Notably, for the past few days, Singh has been alleging that he was not getting an appointment with Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to discuss the plight of locals displaced due to two projects - Tem and Suthalia.
On Thursday, Singh had alleged that the CM House, which had offered him an appointment for January 21, informed him that his appointment has been cancelled as the chief minister was busy in some other assignments. An upset Singh accused the chief minister of not being concerned about farmers' issue and announced to sit on dharna outside the CM House on Friday.
On Friday, Congress workers had tried to stop a motorcade of Chouhan as he was moving towards Smart Park for plantation. Singh too was stopped by police as he was moving towards the CM House.