BJP, Congress sharpen attack as bypolls near in MP

Bhopal, Oct 16 (IANS) With less than two weeks left for the bypolls to three Assembly constituencies and one Lok Sabha seat in Madhya Pradesh, both the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress have sharpened their attack against each other.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, who was campaigning for BJP candidate Gyaneshwar Patil in the Khandwa Lok Sabha seat on Saturday, took a jibe at the Congress, calling it a "party without a president".

"The Congress, which is already suffering due to the lack of a president, now has another group called G-23. Rahul Gandhi is not the president of Congress, but he can take a decision to change chief ministers. Here in Madhya Pradesh, they have only one face for every post. If it is the CM's post, they have Kamal Nath and if it is party chief in state, then again Kamal Nath is the only face for Congress," Chauhan said while addressing the gathering in Khandwa on Saturday.

He also attacked senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Digvijaya Singh, alleging that all development works were stopped and the state was under the clutch of "goons and mafias" during his tenure.

Chauhan alleged that during his 15-month tenure, former Chief Minister Kamal Nath had stopped several development schemes launched by the BJP government and had given a free hand to corruption.

"For 15 months, the Congress did nothing," he added.

The state Congress on its part accused the BJP of indulging in selling and purchasing of MLAs to remain in power.

Senior spokesperson of the Congress in Madhya Pradesh, Bhupendra Gupta, told IANS, "BJP claims that it is the largest political party in the world, but in reality it does not have its own candidates for elections. Every time the BJP purchases candidates from other political parties. It does not have confidence in its own leaders."

Gupta also alleged that out of the four candidates contesting the bypolls for BJP, one has been brought from another party.

"Shishupal Singh Yadav, who is the BJP candidate in Prithvipur Assembly bypolls, had contested the last election on a Samajwadi Party ticket. There are around 40 per cent votes of the Yadav community in Prithvipur and therefore the BJP did not trust its own party leaders and nominated its candidate from the Yadav community," Gupta said.

Bypolls to three Assembly seats -- Prthvipur under Nimar district, Raigaon in Satna district and Jobat in Alirajpur district -- along with one Lok Sabha seat -- Khandwa -- will be held on October 30.