Congress victory at Bahoriband is defeat of CM: Satyadev Katare

BHOPAL: Leader of Opposition in Madhya Pradesh Assembly Satyadev Katare today said the Congress' victory in the Bahoriband Assembly by-election is actually the defeat of state Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

"The victory of Congress in Bahoriband is in reality the defeat of the Chief Minister," an upbeat Katare told reporters here.

It is also the victory of the large number of Congress workers and its candidate Sourabh Singh who toiled hard to ensure BJP's defeat in the by-poll, he said.

However, he said the party was expecting to win even the Vijayraghavgarh seat where it lost.

BJP won two seats, Vijayraghavgarh and Agar, while Congress bagged Bahoriband, the by-polls for which were held on August 21 and the results announced yesterday.

Congress wrested the Bahoriband seat with its candidate Sourabh, who joined Congress recently after quitting BSP, winning by a margin of 7,977 votes.

The victory in Bahoriband would boost the morale of Congress, which has been out of power in the state since 2003.

BJP had left no stone unturned in the run up to the election to ensure victory in Bahoriband and even ensured that former Congress MLA Nishith Patel from the same seat had joined the saffron party.

The Bahoriband by-poll was necessitated after sitting BJP MLA Prabhat Pandey, who won the election in 2013, died.

The BJP had fielded his son Pranav from the seat to cash-in on sympathy votes, but it proved futile.