The political posturing in the run up to the 2014 Parliament poll is getting curious by the day with Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh on Thursday announcing that he would like to contest next Lok Sabha election from the Vidisha seat in Madhya Pradesh, currently represented by leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj.
The announcement comes on the day when a section of the media carried the news that the principal opposition Bharatiya Janata Party was in advanced state of discussion with the former chief of the army staff General (retired) VK Singh for pitting him against Congress president Sonia Gandhi from the Rae Bareli seat. According to the media report, the former Army Chief has discussed the idea with top BJP leaders, who are ‘excited’ at the thought of having a high voltage battle in the pocket borough of the Nehru-Gandhi family.
In what looks to be a counter to BJP move to encircle Sonia Gandhi in her seat, the Congress could plan a similar strategy for other prominent BJP leaders. Talking to reporters in Bhopal, the former chief minister, who is returning to electoral politics after 10-year hibernation, said he had no plans to contest from his home seat of Rajgarh as it has already been represented by Congress member.
To a query whether he would contest from Bellary in Karnataka if Sushma Swaraj enters the fray from there in the 2014 polls, Digvijaya replied in negative but added that he was prepared to contest from Vidisha. Swaraj had won the 2009 election to the 15th Lok Sabha from Vidisha by a margin of over 4,00,000 votes.
The announcement comes on the day when a section of the media carried the news that the principal opposition Bharatiya Janata Party was in advanced state of discussion with the former chief of the army staff General (retired) VK Singh for pitting him against Congress president Sonia Gandhi from the Rae Bareli seat. According to the media report, the former Army Chief has discussed the idea with top BJP leaders, who are ‘excited’ at the thought of having a high voltage battle in the pocket borough of the Nehru-Gandhi family.
In what looks to be a counter to BJP move to encircle Sonia Gandhi in her seat, the Congress could plan a similar strategy for other prominent BJP leaders. Talking to reporters in Bhopal, the former chief minister, who is returning to electoral politics after 10-year hibernation, said he had no plans to contest from his home seat of Rajgarh as it has already been represented by Congress member.
To a query whether he would contest from Bellary in Karnataka if Sushma Swaraj enters the fray from there in the 2014 polls, Digvijaya replied in negative but added that he was prepared to contest from Vidisha. Swaraj had won the 2009 election to the 15th Lok Sabha from Vidisha by a margin of over 4,00,000 votes.