Mandsaur: Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh appeared to have moved on after the June 6, 2017 police firing incident in which five farmers were killed.
The tragedy, that provoked Congress president Rahul Gandhi to announce debt relief for farmers helping his party return to power in MP after a gap of 15 years in the last year’s assembly elections, has found literally no mention in the campaigning by ruling Congress in Mandsaur Lok Sabha constituency.
Mandsaur is going to polls along with seven other seats in MP in the seventh and final phase of parliamentary elections in the state on May 19.
“The issue had hardly made any impact on the last year’s assembly elections in the region. BJP had won seven out of eight assembly seats under Mandsaur Lok Sabha constituency then. Hence, we have decided to play it down in the ensuing LS polls in Mandsaur”, a senior leader of Mandsaur district Congress committee (DCC) disclosed to this newspaper on Thursday requesting not to be
quoted.
The incident took place when BJP was in power in MP.
Police had opened fire on agitating peasants in district headquarters of Mandsaur killing five of them.
Incidentally, Malwa-Nimad region of MP comprising Mandsaur is the most prosperous agriculture belt of the state. Mandsaur is particularly known for cultivation of best quality opium in the country.
Meenakshi Natarajan of Congress, a close associate of Mr Gandhi, is pitted against sitting MP Sudhir Gupta of BJP in a multi-cornered contest in Mandsaur LS seat. “We are banking on farm loan waiver scheme being implemented by our government in the state to harvest electoral gains in this poll”, a Congress spokesman said.
