Congress targets Jyotiraditya Scindia, stages protest ahead of BJP campaign

BHOPAL: Hours before BJP’s mega membership drive in Gwalior, Congress on Saturday displayed its show of strength in an area where BJP Rajya Sabha member Jyotiraditya Scindia wields influence.
Hundreds of Congress workers hit the roads in Gwalior to protest the BJP’s membership drive amid the Covid-19 scare. Former ministers Lakhan Singh, Bhagwan Singh Yadav and Balendu Shukla courted arrest.Police arrested hundreds of Congress workers and local leaders who were later released.
Sixteen of the 27 assembly seats going for the upcoming bypolls fall in the Gwalior-Chambal region. It is here that chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar, state BJP chief V D Sharma and Scindia are scheduled to spend the next three days to mobilise party workers and lead a massive membership drive.
But Congress is not willing to give the ruling party a cakewalk. The PCC claimed that the protests proved that Congress is not run by Scindia in the Gwalior region. Former MP Ram Sevak Singh told the media, “When Scindia was in the Congress party, I was with him. But Congress cannot be weakened because someone has chosen to leave. The protest is Congress workers’ rage against traitors. We will win all the 27 seats in the bypolls.”
Even before the BJP leaders could reach Gwalior on Saturday, state Congress workers gathered at Shinde Ki Chavni area to protest. With a three-layered security arrangement, police barricaded the area from Phool Bagh Maidan to Shibde Ki Chavni as Congress under the leadership of local leaders marched in huge numbers with black flags. The protest, however, broke all norms of social distancing.
Former minister and state Congress vice-president Shukla said, “Does BJP want to contain the Covid pandemic or help it spread? Congress party wanted to peacefully hold a demonstration at the foot of the Mahatma Gandhi statue. But cops stopped us on the road while BJP has called its workers from Bhind, Datia, Morena and all across the Chambal region. What corona protocol will be maintained when their crowds reach the city? And why blame us when they started it all.”
Congress’s media in-charge in Gwalior-Chambal, K K Mishra alleged, “The administration speaks of safety guidelines on Covid. If the virus spreads in Gwalior region then it will be none other than the administration and police who will be responsible. How did they give BJP the permission for such a function? ”
As Congress workers gathered in the area at around 11am, there were exchanges of fisticuffs with cops. The leaders, including Ram Sevak Singh, district party president Devendra Sharma and hundreds of workers were arrested.
State Congress spokesman Durgesh Sharma said, “The protests registered by Congress workers in Gwalior was a message for Scindia. The message was that no one in the Congress party is a bonded labourer. Those who had to leave, have left. We have shown Scindia that Congress made him, he didn’t make the party.”
“Congress workers showed Scindia their true power and that they stand with the leadership. The entire country has seen that Congress cannot be shaken,” Sharma added.