MP tribal outfit wants Cong to field its 4 members in LS polls after founder won on party ticket

A Congress MLA in Madhya Pradesh has demanded that the party field four candidates of his fledgling tribal outfit from reserved seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, or else it will approach the BJP.

The Jai Adivasi Yuva Shakti is not a registered political outfit yet and is therefore approaching the parties, said Dr Hiralal Alawa, the founder of JAYS who won on a Congress ticket from Manawar in the recent assembly elections.

In the Assembly polls held last year, the JAYS had asked the Congress to field 80 of its members on party ticket. However, only Alawa was given a ticket.

"We have now asked the Congress to field our four candidates as its nominees in four Lok Sabha seats reserved for tribals. If the Congress does not agree, we will approach the BJP with that demand," Alawa told PTI.

"The JAYS had urged the Congress to field its 80 candidates, especially in Malwa-Nimar area, in the Assembly polls. It had agreed to make seven members of JAYS as its candidate. But it just fielded me from Manawar assembly constituency in Dhar district," the former assistant professor of AIIMS-Delhi said.

"This time, we are taking no chances. I had already spoken to the Congress state leadership and placed our demand for four tickets from Dhar, Ratlam, Khargone and Betul. If the Congress does not accept our demand, we will approach the BJP," he said.

He said if nothing works out, the JAYS will field its members in the six Lok Sabha seats reserved for tribals, including Shahdol and Mandla in eastern MP.

"Our compulsion to approach the political parties is that JAYS is not a registered political outfit," Dr Alawa said.

He claimed that the Congress had performed well in Malwa-Nimar in eastern Madhya Pradesh due to the support of JAYS in the assembly polls.

According to the 2011 census, tribals constitute 21.1 per cent of the total population in Madhya Pradesh.

The BJP had won all the six tribal reserved seats in 2014 general election.