Bhopal:

State home minister Narottam Mishra sparked a controversy after a purported video of his speech in which he mentioned about ‘making Hema Malini dance’ in his constituency surfaced on social media.

Reacting to Mr Mishra’s remark, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Thursday wrote on X (formerly Twitter) sharing the video, “Listen to the real meanness of the minister (Narottam Mishra) of the cultured BJP about women. He doesn’t even spare his own party leader.”

On the other hand, earlier on Wednesday, Congress media advisor Piyush Babele also wrote on X for the same that insulting women was the identity of the BJP.

“This is Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra. He is talking about making the BJP MP dance (Hema Malini). Insulting women is the identity of BJP,” Babele wrote.

Mr Mishra is a strong BJP leader and has been contesting from Datia Assembly seat since 2008. 

This time, it will be his fourth time to be in the fray for the state assembly polls scheduled to be held next month.

Madhya Pradesh will vote on November 7 and the counting of votes will take place on December 3. Through the polls, the state will elect legislators from 230 Assembly constituencies.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Indore:

Amid a barrage of acerbic remarks exchanged between the ruling BJP and opposition Congress ahead of the assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Sunday saw a moment of rare bonhomie between two potential rivals.

Congress MLA Sanjay Shukla, who represents the Indore 1 constituency and will in all likelihood be fielded by his party from there, touched the feet of senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya, whose name has already been announced for the same seat.

A video of Shukla’s act of respect for the BJP general secretary soon became a subject of like, share, repost and forward on social media.

The video shows Shukla, who was in the audience, standing up to say that Vijayvargiya was an honourable figure for him and then goes on to touch his feet.

The two leaders were attending a collective forgiveness function of the Jain community at Gommatgiri crossing in Indore.

Vijayvargiya reciprocated the gesture by hugging Shukla, demonstrating the rare gesture of bonhomie between the probable rival candidates.

During the mass forgiveness function of the Jain community, people apologise to each other for the mistakes committed knowingly or unknowingly. This event has religious significance in the Jain community.

The Congress and BJP have upped the ante against each other by resorting to non-stop wranglings ahead of the Madhya Pradesh assembly polls due by the year-end.

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have repeatedly visited the state in recent months, the BJP has fielded seven MPs, including three Union ministers, and Vijayvargiya apparently to overcome anti-incumbency.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Kamal Nath is the Congress’ chief ministerial face in Madhya Pradesh as he is the president of state congress committee, party leader Randeep Surjewala said Saturday. Mr Nath has earlier held the top post.

On being asked about the party’s face for the Chief Minister’s post in Madhya Pradesh, Mr Surjewala told the reporters that whoever is the president of Pradesh Congress naturally becomes the face of the party.

“Kamal Nath is the president of Madhya Pradesh Congress and whoever is the president of Pradesh Congress, that person is naturally the face of Congress,” Mr Surjewala said.

Talking about the Central Election Committee meeting of Congress, which was held to finalise candidates for the upcoming assembly elections, Mr Surjewala said a decision regarding the seats will be made in the next meeting.

He further said that the people of the state want a “change”.

“Discussion was held on the political situation of Madhya Pradesh, the way Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has taken the state on the path of destruction. There has been crime against women in the state and corruption is on the rise. Madhya Pradesh wants change. Another meeting will be called and a decision will be made over the seats,” the Congress leader said.

After the meeting, Kamal Nath, while speaking to the reporters said that no decision has been taken at present regarding the name of the candidates.

“We have held discussions on several names. At present, no decision has been taken. The decision will be taken in the next 6-7 days. We have held a discussion on 130-140 seats,” Mr Nath said.

Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who also attended the meeting, said that the “list will be released soon”.

“A lot of discussion happened but everything will not be revealed. The list will be released soon,” he said.

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and party MPs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi also attended the meeting. Party leader KC Venugopal too was present.

On October 3, the Congress screening committee held a meeting to decide on the candidates for the Madhya Pradesh assembly polls.

Madhya Pradesh is one of the five states going to polls at the end of this year.

The terms of the legislative assemblies in Telangana, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh are set to conclude on various dates in January of the coming year, while the term of the Mizoram Legislative Assembly will end on December 17 this year.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The Congress on Friday raised before the Election Commission the issue of duplication in electoral rolls in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh. The poll panel, on its part, disclosed that it has already removed 11 lakh duplicate names in a bid to present a clean voters’ list.

A delegation of Congress leaders met the Election Commission and presented copies of records showing duplications in electoral rolls in different districts of Madhya Pradesh.

Following the meeting, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Vivek Tankha told reporters that the commission informed them that around 11 lakh duplicate names have been removed and the electoral rolls corrected.

He added that the Election Commission has authorised chief electoral officers in states and district electoral officers to entertain complaints of discrepancies at their own end and correct the lists.

The Congress delegation presented the poll panel with statistics pertaining to 43 districts on how, within the same constituency, there is a duplication of voters.

“The Election Commission was very positive … we told the commission that we want a neat and clean voters’ list and the Election Commission told us that they have done 11 lakh deletion of duplications,” Mr Tankha told reporters.

“We urged the Election Commission to direct chief electoral officers and district electoral officers to take up this duplication (issue) at their level and clean up the electoral rolls. We are satisfied with today’s meeting,” he said.

The Congress leader said there is no difference between the political parties and the Election Commission on the issue and added “we want that there should be a pure and clean voters’ list” and the poll panel has given its assurance on it.

“We had approached the Election Commission in September and they provided us statistics and data on correction of voters’ lists. They gave us the liberty that the state electoral officers and district electoral officers can take up the issue and authorised them to take action on their part and we can also approach them,” the Congress leader said.

Asked about the announcement of women’s reservation in the elections, Mr Tankha said, “Any declaration before the election announcement is a ‘jumla (empty promise)’ and we do not react to such declarations.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Indore:

After BJP National General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya was fielded in the upcoming Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, party supporters started celebrations in Indore on Monday.

The BJP supporters celebrated outside the residence of Mr Vijayvargiya in Indore.

Meanwhile, the BJP leader said that the central leadership’s decision was “surprising” and that he will do whatever they say. Mr Vijayvargiya has been fielded from Indore-1 constituency.

Speaking to ANI, he said, “This is the party’s order. I was told that I would be assigned work that I would not say ‘no’ and I would have to do it. When the tickets were declared, I too was surprised. I am the party’s soldier. I will do whatever they say.”

“Although I had said that I do not want to contest the elections, senior leaders of the party gave me some directions the day before yesterday. I was in a conundrum and after the announcement was made, I was left surprised. I am privileged that I got the opportunity to participate in electoral politics and I will try to fulfil the party’s expectations,” he added.

The ruling BJP on Monday released its second list of 39 candidates for the forthcoming assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh. The new list, announced hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a massive gathering of BJP workers in Bhopal, includes four party MPs and three Union Ministers.

The BJP’s second list features three central ministers — Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister of State (MoS) for Food Processing Industries Prahlad Singh Patel, and Minister of State for Rural Development and Steel Faggan Singh Kulaste.

While Mr Tomar will contest from the Dimni seat, Mr Patel and Mr Kulaste will contest from Narsingpur and Niwas respectively.

The BJP released its first list of candidates on August 17, revealing the names of 39 candidates.

Madhya Pradesh is scheduled to go for the assembly polls later this year.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Bhopal:

BJP national president JP Nadda will on Sunday flag off his party’s ‘Jan Ashirward Yatra’ in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh to seek the blessing of the people and reach out to them, from the holy city of Chitrakoot in Satna district.

Assembly elections in the BJP-governed MP are due by the year-end.

“Naddaji is expected to reach Chitrakoot around 10 am. He will participate in a function for the launch of the yatra around 11 am and flag it off at noon,” Satna BJP district president Satish Sharma told PTI over the phone from Chitrakoot.

“Four such yatras will be taken out from other places in the next week,” another party functionary said. During the course of the yatras, the BJP will reach out to the people through large public meetings and highlight the welfare schemes of the Centre and state and their achievements.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to address a meeting of BJP workers to mark the culmination of these five mass-contact programmes on September 25 in Bhopal, party leaders said.

September 25 is the birth anniversary of the late Deendayal Upadhyaya, a top leader of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh that later became the BJP.

The yatra from Chitrakoot will pass through the Vindhya region of Madhya Pradesh. In the 2018 assembly polls, the BJP had won 24 of the 30 seats in this region.

BJP leaders said that these five yatras will cover more than 10,500 km by crisscrossing 210 of MP’s 230 assembly constituencies before reaching Bhopal.

Though they will reach the state capital on September 21, the formal culmination of the yatras will take place on September 25 with a ‘Karyakarta Mahakumbh’, they said.

While Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was at the forefront of such programmes ahead of the last assembly elections, the BJP central leadership has decided to involve Union ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari for the yatras this time.

In the November 2018 MP assembly polls, the Congress won 114 of 230 seats while the BJP finished second with 109 seats.

The Congress formed a coalition government with the support of independents, BSP, and SP under Kamal Nath. However, it collapsed after 15 months when a string of Congress MLAs led by Jyotiraditya Scindia, now a Union minister, joined the BJP, paving the way for Chouhan’s return as CM. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)