New Delhi: With less than a month to go for the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections 2018, a bitter feud emerged among top Congress leaders Digvijaya Singh and Jyotiraditya Scindia.
According to party sources, the two heavyweights sparred in the presence of Congress chief Rahul Gandhi over seat allotment during the meeting of the central election committee (CEC) on Wednesday night.
CEC is the party's body for selecting poll candidates.
This prompted Rahul to ask senior party members Ashok Gehlot, Ahmed Patel and M Veerappa Moily to intervene between the two and sort out differences.
No candidate has been announced for the state polls so far.
It appears that Singh and Scindia, each batting for their own candidates, are bitterly divided over allotment of tickets for the upcoming state elections. As a result, the outcome of the CEC meeting, that continued till hours beyond midnight, remained inconclusive.
This was followed by a meeting of the leaders from Madhya Pradesh and the central screening committee of the state chaired by Madhusudan Mistry with Patel, Gehlot and Moily.
"The senior leaders have also been asked to first evolve a consensus among the various factions of Madhya Pradesh Congress and hold the next meeting," a senior party leader told PTI.
Insiders say a third meeting of the CEC for Madhya Pradesh to be held this evening was cancelled as no consensus could be brought about between the various state leaders over party tickets.
The meeting is now likely to be held on Friday.
Singh has refuted all reports of fissure spat with Scindia.
"It is being wrongly reported in press that I and Jyotiraditya Scindhiaji had any argument and (Congress President) Rahulji had to intervene. All of us in Madhya Pradesh Congress are one and determined to defeat the corrupt BJP government," Singh tweeted.
It is being wrongly reported in press that I and Jyotiraditya Scindhia ji had any arguement and Rahul ji had to intervene. All of us in MP Congress are one and determined to defeat the corrupt BJP Govt in MP.
— digvijaya singh (@digvijaya_28) November 1, 2018
Reiterating similar views, Gehlot said, "There was no such fight between the leaders as reported in a section of the media. All the leaders in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are united."
Reacting to the Congress internal feud rumours, the BJP said that Rahul is "confused" and the Congress under him is "defused".
"Rahul is a confused President and under a confused President, the Congress is defused. The kind of infighting within the Congress...Digvijaya Singh (former Chief Minister) takes on Jyotiraditya Scindia (Congress MP) openly and that too in front of Rahul Gandhi," BJP Spokesperson Sambit Patra said at a press conference.
"The people of this country are not confused. They want strong government and not a weak government," he said.
With agency inputs
