By L.S. Herdenia
BHOPAL: Both Congress and BJP have initiated efforts to persuade their rebel candidates to withdraw their nominations. November 14 is the last day for withdrawal.
Meanwhile, Congress has issued a document which it has chosen to call it a “Vachan Patra” instead of manifesto. The party has promised, among other things, to enforce a ban on holding RSS drill on the grounds of government schools, colleges and other institutions. The promise has evoked sharp reaction from the BJP, with its leaders asserting that under no circumstances will Congress be allowed to enforce this ban even if it comes to power. Congress has also announced that it will revoke the BJP government’s order allowing government servants to participate in RSS activities. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan lifted the ban in 2006, which had prohibited government servant’s participation in the RSS activities.
Commenting on the Congress promise, BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra said the opposition party had only one priority. “The Congress has only one motto – mandir nahi banne denga, Shaka nahi chalne denge (it will not allow temples to be built and will not allow RSS branches to operate).”
He further said “The Congress leaders sympathise with Naxals but talk of imposing a ban on the RSS”.
BJP state president Rakesh Singh dared Congress to ban RSS. During a media interaction on Sunday, he said Congress never hesitates to stand with forces that are bound to divide the country. It stood with the ‘tukde-tukde’ gang in the JNU. The Congress intentions could be understood clearly from its manifesto. There were attempts to ban RSS earlier as well, but all the efforts fell flat, said Singh.
Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar too came down heavily on Congress, saying that the party has now started portraying itself as “Hindu sympathiser” but unfortunately it also talks of banning a socio-cultural organisation like the RSS.
The Congress defensive approach on this issue could be understood from state president Kamal Nath’s statement. He said that the BJP is spreading confusion based on one point in the manifesto that the Congress would impose a ban on the RSS, which is actually not true. BJP is doing it intentionally to please their masters (RSS), Kamal Nath said.
The point that Congress has mentioned in its manifesto is within the ambit of the Constitution and was very much in force even during tenure of chief ministers Babulal Gaur and Uma Bharti, added Nath. Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi said that the RSS is no longer a cultural organisation, but a political organisation. Most senior leaders of the BJP, including Narendra Modi, come from the RSS and are now taking important decisions in the government. Moreover, RSS is not a registered organisation. How can government employees be allowed to participate in programmes of an unregistered political organisation, quipped Chaturvedi.
Both BJP and Congress have gone into a damage control mode to get party rebels to withdraw from the fray ahead of the polls on November 28. The state has a 230-member Assembly and sources from both parties believe that these rebels could prove to be the decisive factor in 30- odd seats.
According to a senior BJP leader, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, state BJP chief Rakesh Singh, party vice-president Prabhat Jha and state organisation secretary Suhas Bhagat, among others, were contacting party rebels to get them to opt out of the electoral race. “Like in the past, they are going to withdraw from the race”, state BJP spokesperson Rajnish Agarwal claimed.
On behalf of Congress, senior leader and former chief minister Dgvijay Singh is trying to persuade the rebels to withdraw, party sources said. They said state party chief Kamal Nath, former Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Ajay Singh were also involved in ensuring that the party’s official candidates don’t have to fight rebels.
Digvijay Singh told rebels that the official candidates were chosen after much deliberations by party chief Rahul Gandhi, and that the rebels should work in the interest of the party.
Prominent among the BJP rebels who are in the fray this time include Ramkrishna Kusumaria, five-time MP and a powerful leader from the impoverished Bundelkhand region, who has filed his nomination papers from two assembly seats, Damoh and Patharia as an independent candidate.
Likewise, former finance minister and RSS ideologue Ragahvji Bhai is contesting on a SAPAKS (Sammanya Pichra Alpsankhyak Kalyan Samaj) ticket from Shashabad in Vidisha district. He is apparently angry over the BJP not giving a ticket to his daughter Jyoti Shah. Similarly, former Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) state chief Dhiraj Pateriya is contesting from Jabalpur North as an Independent candidate.
The Congress rebel list includes senior leader and former party spokesman Satyarat Chaturvedi’s son Nitin, who is contesting from Rajnagar seat in Bundelkhand region as a Samajwadi Party candidate after being denied a party ticket, and Sahab Singh Gurjar, contesting from Gwalior Rural seat after the Congress refused him a ticket. (IPA Service)
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