Bhopal: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday accused the Congress party of insulting Dalits by pushing Phool Singh Baraiya as the second preference candidate in Rajya Sabha polls in front of senior leader Digvijaya Singh.
Baraiya, once a force to reckon with in Gwalior-Chambal region, had joined the Congress ahead of Lok Sabha polls in 2019. After Jyotiraditya Scindia defected to BJP in March 2020 over a dispute on Rajya Sabha nominations, Baraiya was drafted by the grand old party into the fray as a candidate.
The move was widely seen as a ploy to gain in upcoming bypolls, 16 of which are due in Gwalior-Chambal region, where SC-ST Act rebellion had helped Congress sizable wins in 2018 assembly polls.
However, to cash in on the resentment for Digvijaya Singh in the Congress camp, and also dent opposition ahead of bypolls, BJP had started backing Baraiya as first preference candidate for Rajya Sabha polls days ahead of polling for the Upper House of the Parliament.
Home minister Narottam Mishra days ago claimed this was an anti-Dalit move by the Congress, questioning why Baraiya was put in the fray which was a losing cause. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and former Leader of Opposition Gopal Bhargav, too, had raised the issue. The party also had taken to social media with this issue.
The Congress, however, was promising all a surprise on a strategy best known to the party leaders only as BJP had winning numbers for two seats even without the support of BSP, SP and independents.
Meanwhile, as the polling got underway on Friday, the BJP only sharpened the attack.
“When it comes to Digvijaya Singh, he always stalls path of Dalit leaders. He in the past had prevented ST leaders like Shivbhanu Singh Solanki and Jamuna Devi from becoming Chief Ministers and now he is preventing Baraiya’s passage to Rajya Sabha,” Home minister Narottam Mishra candidly said.
Both Solanki and Jamuna Devi were prominent leaders but could only rise as Deputy Chief Ministers in Congress governments.
“In the present political scenario, we advise Congress to put Baraiya as first preference candidate as 16 bypolls are due in Gwalior-Chambal region where SC-ST population is in plenty”, said Mishra, seemingly mocking the Opposition for its strategy.
Prabhat Jha, the outgoing RS member of BJP and a native of Gwalior region, also slammed the Congress, claiming that Baraiya was fielded from day one with the knowledge that he would lose. He turned to his own party saying, “When we fielded Jyotiraditya Scindia, we also put ST candidate Sumer Singh Solanki”.
“The Congress has always cheated the SC and ST community in Madhya Pradesh and it was high time these communities realised the truth,” added Jha.
However, early in the morning Baraiya claimed that putting him on the second preference was a decision taken by the party with his consent. Digvijaya Singh is a senior leader and should get preference, added the leader. He, however, had exuded confidence of winning RS poll saying BJP MLAs will cross vote for him.
Meanwhile, former Chief Minister Kamal Nath, when questioned by the media on BJP charges of Congress not putting Baraiya in first preference, hit back asking why the BJP was more interested in Congress matters. “Let them focus on their own issues,” he said.
Baraiya, a BSP MLA of 1998 from Bhander in Datiya, has changed political parties since then and settled with Congress last year ahead of lok sabha polls. Not only because of SC-ST resentment in Gwalior-Chambal region, Baraiya also holds crucial importance to Congress scheme of things ahead of bypolls as the BSP also has announced to contest bypolls in MP, which by and large could dent Congress’ traditional votebank.
To add, Baraiya after his RS nomination, while speaking to News18 had affirmed that he could help his party win most of 16 seats in Gwalior-Chambal region in bypolls, if any.
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