Bhopal: Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia on Tuesday pitched for projecting a chief ministerial nominee in his home state Madhya Pradesh, which goes to the polls towards the end of this year, and noted that his party has many leaders to choose from.
“Every party has different policies for each state. I am not saying that we have to project a face in every state, but where you have faces, you have to project one,” Scindia, the Lok Sabha MP from Guna, said.
Scindia, one of the tallest Congress leaders in the state, could be a choice for the top job. “Neither the BJP projects a face in every state, nor does the Congress. But where you have faces you have to use them,” the former Union minister added.
But leader of the opposition, Ajay Singh, contradicted Scindia and said Congress does not have a tradition of declaring a candidate for the top post ahead of elections.
“There is no tradition in the Congress to announce a chief ministerial face. So far, the party high command never declared a CM candidate in any states, except in Punjab, where Captain Amarinder Singh was made the party face. In Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Delhi or other states, Congress never contested polls by announcing CM candidates,” Singh added.
Scindia, however, said his statement was not just confined to Madhya Pradesh. “Politics is changing. Now, people even want to know the face of the corporator (in their ward). It has become a reality in the entire country,” Scindia said.
“I have made this statement earlier and I am making it today also. This is not confined to Madhya Pradesh only, but for the entire country,” the 47-year-old said.
Replying to a specific question whether there is a need to announce a chief ministerial candidate in Madhya Pradesh, he said, “I believe there is a need for it. You have faces…don’t you think we have faces in Madhya Pradesh?”
Scindia said he was ready to accept any responsibility assigned to him by the party.
“Whatever responsibility the party had given to me in the last 16 years, I discharged it diligently- whether it was the charge of Union minister or chief whip of the Congress in the Lok Sabha. This is my ideology and I follow it,” he said.
PTI