Won't contest LS polls, says Digvijaya Singh

BHOPAL: Amid speculation of whether Congress stalwarts in Madhya Pradesh will contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha election, Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and Congress Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh has said that he was not keen on contesting the polls.

Congress veteran leader said he won’t contest the Lok Sabha election as his Rajya Sabha tenure has two more years to go. The two-time Chief Minister was elected as MP for the Upper House of Parliament in June 2020, and therefore, the six-year tenure will end in June 2026.

During an interaction with the press reporters in his home district Rajgarh on Sunday, he said, “The question of contesting the elections does not arise because I am a member of Rajya Sabha and still have over two years.”

Singh ruled out the possibility of contesting the Lok Sabha election. However, the political circle was full of speculation that the Congress may field him from Rajgarh this time. Over the past week, Singh has been taking meetings of party workers in Rajgarh, Raghogarh and Khilchipur -- all these Assembly segments fall in the Rajgarh Lok Sabha constituency.

Sources in the Congress told IANS that there were very rare chances for the Congress to further give tenure as Rajya Sabha MP to Digvijaya Singh and wanted him to contest the Lok Sabha election.

Singh had contested from Bhopal Lok Sabha seat in 2019 but lost to BJP’s Pragya Singh Thakur by a margin of 3.65 lakh votes.

Rajgarh Lok Sabha seat is the home turf of Singh, who hails from the Raghogarh Assembly segment (Guna district) which falls under the Rajgarh parliamentary constituency. Singh had represented Rajgarh LS seat in 1984 and 1991.

He said the Congress party will decide the candidate for Rajgarh Lok Sabha constituency. Of the total 29 Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh, the BJP holds 28 and the Congress one. In the Assembly elections held last year in the state, the Congress recorded its worst performance under Singh and another veteran Kamal Nath.