Digvijay Singh admits delay in declaring Congress nominees for Madhya Pradesh polls

GUNA: Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh admitted that there had been a delay in declaring the party's list of candidates for the November 25 Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh.

"I have no hesitation in admitting that the release of the list of candidates for the elections has been delayed," Digvijay told reporters here after his son, Jaiwardhan Singh, filed his nomination papers.

Incidentally, the party had announced some time back that tickets for the Assembly elections would be handed out three months in advance.

Congress has been putting up a show of unity in the BJP- ruled state, but sources said that leaders in the faction- ridden party have not been seeing eye-to-eye on the issue of poll tickets.

The filing of nominations for the state polls began today. Asked to comment on Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi's statement that those living in huts and slums should also be given elections tickets, Singh said, "let the list come out, then you will know whose names are on it".

Responding to a query, he said that former Punjab DGP KPS Gill was not a judge who could give a clean chit to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi over the 2002 post-Godhra riots.

Gill, who had served as security adviser to the Gujarat Chief Minister in 2002, had said Modi cannot be blamed for the riots as it was the job of the police brass to respond to law and order situations.