MP polls: Congress will lose votes if I campaign, says Digvijaya Singh

As Congress is gearing up for the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections to oust the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, senior leader Digvijaya Singh on Tuesday said that his party will lose votes if he campaigns or gives speeches in public events.

While speaking to his party workers, Singh said: "Jisko ticket mile, chahe dushman ko mile, jitao. Aur mera kaam kewal ek, koi prachar nahi, koi bhashan nahi. Mere bhashan dene se toh Congress ke vote kat te hain, isliye main jata nahi (Whoever gets ticket, even if rivals, make sure that they win. There is only one work for me that I abstain from public events and not campaign for the party because my speeches cuts Congress votes.)," he said.

From his statement it was not clear whether Singh was being sarcastic or serious. Pradesh Congress committee president Kamal Nath told ANI, "I don't know in what context he made the statement".

Recently, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati said that Singh was a spoke in the wheel in the BSP-Congress alliance plans.

"While Congress president Rahul Gandhi and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi want a Congress-BSP alliance in the poll-bound states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh and in Lok Sabha elections, unfortunately, Congress party Member of Parliament and former chief minister Digvijaya Singh, who due to the fear of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), does not want an alliance between the two parties," Mayawati had said.

Mayawati accused him of being "selfish" due to which, according to her, Congress failed to form a government in Goa in 2017 despite the fact that the party had majority there.

The election in Madhya Pradesh is scheduled to be held in a single phase on November 28. Counting of votes will be done on December 11.