LS polls: Digvijay Singh to fight from Bhopal, Sadhvi Pragyan eager to take on him

Bhopal: Ending weeklong speculation, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath on Saturday declared that veteran party leader Digvijay Singh would contest from Bhopal Lok Sabha seat, considered a BJP bastion, in the upcoming polls.

Barely an hour after the announcement, saffron leader Sadhvi Pragyan who has recently been acquitted in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, declared that she was ready to fight against Mr Singh in Bhopal to “settle her personal score” with him.

“I am ready to take on Mr Singh, if BJP decides. I consider enemy of the country is my enemy. I consider Digvijay Singh as my enemy”, she told reporters.

Sadhvi was being treated for cancer in an ayurvedic hospital.

Earlier, attending the meet-the-press programme, Mr Nath said, “The Central Election Committee (CEC) of the party has decided that Digvijay Singh will contest from Bhopal”.

Mr Nath said, “I had earlier asked Digvijay Singhji to choose one of the three difficult constituencies, Bhopal, Indore and Jabalpur, to contest from, instead of opting for Rajgarh seat. The CEC has decided to field him in Bhopal”.

Last week, the chief minister had literally thrown a challenge at Mr Singh asking him to choose the “toughest” seat to contest from if he desired to enter the fray in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Mr Singh later responded to the challenge saying that “I am ready to contest wherever my leader Rahul Gandhiji wants me to”.

Mr Singh would contest polls after a gap of 16 years if he joined the fray in the upcoming LS elections from Bhopal.

He had last contested elections in 2003 and had taken the vow not to contest polls in Madhya Pradesh for ten years after the Congress government led by him was dislodged in 2003 assembly elections.

He was said to be keen to contest from Rajgarh LS seat in the forthcoming polls.