Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The opposition alliance INDIA bloc decided to extend support to some other candidate from the Khajuraho seat after the nomination papers of the Samajwadi Party's Meera Yadav were rejected on Friday.
Addressing a press conference after a meeting of Madhya Pradesh heads of the INDIA Bloc, state Congress President Jitu Patwari said that they will support some other Lok Sabha candidate from Khajuraho to give BJP state chief VD Sharma a tough fight on the Bundelkhand seat.
Patwari termed the cancellation of Yadav's nomination papers a 'conspiracy' by the BJP. "Panna Collector acted as an agent of the ruling party and got the nomination form of the Samajwadi party cancelled."
Patwari added that it was the responsibility of the district returning officer to get the timely corrections done in case there was a shortcoming in the paperwork; however, no guidance was given, and the papers were rejected right away.
The candidate and her supporters waited for three hours, but Collector didn’t turn up in the office, and this was the time that things could have been corrected, Patwari said.
Congress Exodus?
He also accused the BJP of building mental pressure on the opposition by claiming that a large number of Congress workers are joining the saffron party. He said that those Congress workers are joining the ruling party because they either have criminal records or have been served the notices of royalty and want to evade police pressure. "If these leaders and workers failed to do any good for Congress, then what good they could do for the BJP is a matter of contemplation," Patwari hit out at the BJP.
He also accused the Modi government of targeting the opposition leader and putting them behind bars to throttle the democracy.
