LS polls: Madhya Pradesh Congress wants Digvijay Singh to contest from Vidisha

Bhopal: Leader of Opposition in Madhya Pradesh Assembly, Satyadev Katare on Tuesday said the Congress state unit has requested party high command to nominate senior leader Digvijay Singh for Lok Sabha polls from Vidisha seat.

"Both I and Madhya Pradesh Congress president Arun Yadav agree that Singh must contest from Vidisha and we have sent a proposal about this to the party high command," Katare said.

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj is the sitting MP from Vidisha seat. Katare said the Congress can benefit to a great extent if Singh is made the party's choice from Vidisha.

Digvijay should agree to contest from Vidisha the same way veteran BJP leader Vijayaraje Scindia had contested against former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi from Rae Bareli in 1980, and Sushma Swaraj had fought against Congress president Sonia Gandhi from Bellary in 2004, he said.

If Digvijay Singh is announced as the Congress candidate from Vidisha, both Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Swaraj would be concentrating there rather than at other state constituencies, he said.

Before becoming a member of the Rajya Sabha, Singh had last year expressed his desire to contest the Lok Sabha election from Vidisha.

Swaraj had won the 2009 Lok Sabha election from Vidisha by a massive margin of over 4,00,000 votes.