After Congress parliamentarian Sajjan Singh Verma, senior party leader Aslam Sher Khan has opened front against Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh, who has recently been elected to the Rajya Sabha.
Congress leader and former Olympian Aslam Sher Khan on Friday said prominent party functionaries should give up the comfort of contesting from their traditional lok Sabha seats and fight from new constituencies in an attempt to put up a spirited challenge against the BJP in Madhya Pradesh. Instead of fighting from their safe seats, senior Congressmen should contest from new ones to instill confidence among party workers, he said and took the names of Union Ministers Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia in this regard, elected repeatedly from Chhindwara and Guna respectively.
While talking to media persons here, Khan said, “In this context, I feel that Kamal Nath must contest from Jabalpur instead of Chhindwara and Jyotiraditya Scindia from Vidisha in place of Guna.” This will help enthuse Congress workers and mount a stiff challenge to the BJP, which comfortably won the last year’s Assembly election in the State, he said. The former hockey Olympian said he was happy with Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi’s decision to hold primaries for at least two lok Sabha constituencies in Madhya Pradesh. According to him, 50 per cent of the tickets for an election should be decided by Congress workers and the rest by senior leaders. If such an approach is followed, Congress will easily win elections, the former lok Sabha MP said.
Reacting over the statements of Khan, State Congress president Arun Yadav told that the PCC would inform the high command about the sentiments of senior party leader. Notably, after defeat of Congress in the assembly elections, Khan had blamed senior party leaders for the debacle in the recent state Assembly elections. The Congress lost the Assembly segments in the parliamentary constituencies of Union ministers Kamalnath and Jyotiraditya Scindia and party general secretary Digvijay Singh, Aslam told reporters.