After promising a caste count in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, and vowing to release the caste data captured in 2015 in Karnataka soon, the Congress has now pledged to hold a caste survey in Madhya Pradesh, if it comes to power in the State.
Speaking to reporters at the end of a three-hour long Congress Central Election Committee meeting, where the party deliberated over candidates for 130 to 140 seats, general secretary in-charge Randeep Surjewala said that the party’s primary agenda going into the Assembly election would be to conduct a caste count in the state.
“Ensuring justice for our brothers and sisters of the OBC (other backward class), SC (Scheduled Caste) and ST (Scheduled Tribe) communities is our primary agenda in Madhya Pradesh. A proper discussion on caste census was held and State chief Kamal Nath and other leaders informed [the CEC] that it will be our primary agenda in M.P.,” Mr. Surjewala said.
Madhya Pradesh Congress president Kamal Nath said that the names of candidates for about 130 to 140 seats were discussed during the meeting. However, sources said that the party will announce the first list only after October 15.
“We have held discussions on several names. No decision has been made yet but we have discussed about 130 to 140 seats. We will meet again and make a decision in six-seven days,” Mr. Nath told reporters.
Mr. Surjewala reiterated that Mr. Nath was the obvious Chief Ministerial face of the party. “Kamal Nath is president of Madhya Pradesh Congress. Whoever is the president of State Congress, that person is naturally the face of the party,” he said.
He contrasted the clarity in the Congress with the confusion in the BJP regarding its Chief Ministerial face. Incumbent CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, he said, does not even know whether he will get a ticket this time around or not. “He [Mr. Chouhan] is now in danger which is why he has started to say all sorts of things now. He doubts whether he will contest from his constituency (Budhni) or not and whether Modi ji will give him a ticket or not,” he said.
The Congress leader was hinting at some of Mr. Chouhan’s emotional speeches in the State in which he has asked the public whether he should contest the polls or not. The Congress is hoping that the anti-incumbency feeling against Mr. Chouhan, which had handed them victory in 2018, would work again in its favour. It has not lost a chance to underline the fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been publicly distancing himself from Mr. Chouhan.
“Madhya Pradesh now wants a change. This is why the Prime Minister has now distanced himself from Shivraj ji’s name and deeds both out of fear. He even hesitates from taking his [Mr. Chouhan’s] name,” Mr. Surjewala said.
The BJP has already declared its candidates for 79 seats. In an unprecedented move, the ruling party has fielded three Union Ministers and four Members of Parliament in the Assembly polls, which are expected to take place by the end of this year.
