Lok Sabha elections 2019: Bring it on, says Digvijaya Singh to ‘tough seat’ challenge

BHOPAL: Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Monday accepted chief minister Kamal Nath’s challenge that he should contest Lok Sabha elections from one of the toughest seats in Madhya Pradesh, and said he would fight wherever party president Rahul Gandhi asks him to.
In back-to-back tweets in the morning, Digvijaya said, “Thanks to Kamal Nath ji who invited me to contest from seats where the Congress is weak in Madhya Pradesh.I am grateful to him that he thought me capable of the job... With the support of the people of Raghogarh, even during the 1977 Janata Party wave, I contested and won. Accepting challenges is my habit. I am ready to contest the Lok Sabha election from the seat my party president Rahul Gandhi wants me to. Narmade Harr.”
BJP said they welcome the fight. “Congress Digvijaya Singh ko jahan se ladayega, BJP wahan se harayga (we will defeat Digvijaya wherever Congress fields him),” said BJP national vice-president Prabhat Jha.
On Saturday, while speaking to reporters in Chhindwara, chief minister Kamal Nath had said, “Digvijaya Singh will choose which seat he wants to contest from. I have requested him that he should contest from the toughest seat. There are three or four such seats in the state which the party has not won in the past 30 to 35 years.”
Digvijaya’s tweets triggered intense speculation in the Pradesh Congress office on Monday, with many believing that the two-time CM and Rajya Sabha MP will choose Indore to take advantage of BJP’s internal strife in the prize seat.
Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan has been winning here since in 1989, but there are heavyweight claimants for the ticket this time. BJP national general secretary Kaliash Vijayvargiya is said to be interested in contesting from Indore. He did not contest the 2018 assembly polls, though his son Akash did, and won the Indore-3 seat. However, Sumitra Mahajan, an eight-time MP and doughty fighter, isn’t in the mood to call it a day.
Sources in Congress told TOI that given a choice, Digvijaya would like to contest from Indore. A fortnight ago, Digvijaya had hosted a lunch at an Indore hotel for a group of industrialists and a delegation of the Kshatriya Samaj. He spent much of his childhood and student years in Indore. He is an alumnus of the prestigious Daly College and has a degree in mechanical engineering from Shri Govindram Seksaria Institute of Technology and Science.