Bhopal: The Congress’s efforts to put up a united front ahead of the Madhya Pradesh assembly polls received a setback on Sunday when AICC general secretary incharge of MP Deepak Babaria was allegedly manhandled by party workers over his remarks on the possible chief ministerial candidate.
The incident took place in Rewa’s circuit house when Babaria, responding to a query on the possible chief minister, said MPCC chief Kamal Nath and campaign committee chairman Jyotiraditya Scindia were the obvious choices for the role.
Soon after his statement, a group of party workers — who were reportedly supporters of a local Rewa MLA — asked Babaria why he chose to ignore Leader of Opposition Ajay Singh’s name for the post.
The issue soon heated up with the men pushing and shoving Babaria who had to be rescued by local party leader, including Brijendra Shukla who sustained injuries in the incident.
The incident provided political ammunition to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with home minister Bhupendra Singh offering Babaria security against his party men.
“Deepak Babariaji has been assaulted by Congress workers several times. He is discharging his duty in our state so it’s our responsibility to offer him security,” Singh said on Monday.
However, the home minister’s dig did not go down well with the Congress as party chief spokesperson Shobha Oza said: “Girls and women are persistently sexually assaulted in MP so let’s ask the home minister to offer them security rather than helping Babaria.”
Babaria, meanwhile, termed the incident a conspiracy by the BJP. “The BJP is concerned by the rising popularity of our leaders so they orchestrated this to dent our image,” he said.
The Leader of Opposition, who was with Babaria on Monday, distanced himself from the attack. “Such elements have no place in the party. Those involved in the incident can’t be my supporters,” he said.
Babaria’s remarks on the chief ministerial candidate are in contravention to the party high command’s directives that the decision would be taken after elections.
Former chief minister Digvijaya Singh had recently told News18 that the leader with majority support post elections and the backing of Rahul Gandhi would be the chief minister in Madhya Pradesh.
This is not the first time that Babaria has been in the limelight for the wrong reasons. Recently, the Gujarat leader drew flak for announcing that the Congress would appoint a Dalit deputy chief minister to give the much-needed representation to the section. He had also asked ticket aspirants to deposit a demand draft of Rs 50,000 with the party, a decision that was later reversed.
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