Ready to contest against Scindia in Guna if party asks: Digvijaya

Seoni (Madhya Pradesh): Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Tuesday said he would contest the Lok Sabha election from Guna against Union minister and BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia if asked by the party.

Singh was in Seoni as part of his state-wide tour of Assembly constituencies where the Congress is perceived to be weak ahead of the Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh which are due by year-end.

"I am currently a member of the Rajya Sabha and I do not need to contest elections. But I am a soldier of the party, whatever the party orders me to do, I will do," he said, replying to a question.

"...my parliamentary constituency is Rajgarh and not Guna. Last time I was asked to contest from Bhopal which was not my seat. But I am a worker of the party and its soldier. Whatever order it gives me, I will follow," said the former chief minister.

While Singh lost to the BJP's Pragya Singh Thakur in 2019 from Bhopal, Scindia was humbled by the saffron party's Krishna Pal Singh Yadav in Guna which Scindia had represented four times.

Scindia, a rival of Singh's in the state Congress, quit the party and joined the BJP in March 2020.

Criticising the BJP government at the Center for offering job letters against vacant posts with a lot of fanfare, Singh claimed that only 45,000 of 9.5 lakh government vacancies were being filled up.

"They are unable to fill up vacant posts. In Madhya Pradesh, the backlog of SC and ST posts is not being filled up. Even at the Center, the backlog is not being filled up," he claimed.