MP: Infighting in Congress intensifies, CM Kamal Nath under attack from Scindia, Digvijaya

BHOPAL: Infighting in Madhya Pradesh Congress escalated on Friday with two party colleagues of chief minister Kamal Nath criticising his administration.

While former Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia alleged in Bhind that the state government has not fulfilled its promise of waiving farm loans of up to Rs 2 lakh, former CM Digvijaya Singh asked Nath to take prompt action to clear roads of stray cattle saying they were dying in accidents.

Addressing a party workers' meet in Bhind, Scindia said, "Farmers' loans have not been waived in totality. Only loans of 50,000 have been waived whereas we had promised that loans up to 2 lakh will be written off."


Scindia's statement stunned party leaders with MP minister Sajjan Singh Verma saying that instead of giving statements, the former should directly speak to the CM on the issue. "He speaks directly to AICC president Sonia Gandhi, so he can also speak to chief minister Kamal Nath," he said. "Loans up to Rs 50,000 of 21 lakh farmers have been waived. The second list of 12.5 lakh farmers, who took loans from cooperative banks, is being prepared and in the third list loans of all remaining farmers who applied for waiver will be waived," the minister added.

While Scindia was firing his salvo, a poster sprung up in Bhind showing the Congress leader with PM Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah, and thanking him for his support to the nullification of Article 370. Installed by BJP worker Hridesh Sharma, district president of 'Bharat Raksha Manch', the poster hailed Scindia as "great son of India" and "pride of Gwalior-Chambal". The manch is headed by former BJP MP Raghunandan Sharma.

Reacting to Scindia's attack on his party leader, former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan tweeted, "Neither Shivraj nor the public, now your own people are showing you the mirror Kamal Nathji, and saying there has been no loan waiver! Will the government still not wake up?"

Coinciding with Scindia’s attack was Digvijaya Singh’s tweet with a picture of stray cattle on the Bhopal-Indore highway. “The MP government should immediately remove them from roads and send them to cow sanctuaries and shelters.” He followed it up with a tweet addressed to the CM: “Kamal Nathji, if you take prompt action, then you will be regarded a true gau-bhakta and it will be a lesson for the so-called BJP leaders.”



Nath replied with a flurry of tweets in the evening. The first said: “Dear Digvijayaji... Let me tell you that a few days ago, concerned for their safety, I instructed officials to prepare an action plan.”


The CM added that during rains, cows sit on roads because the soil of agricultural fields is wet, and thus get killed in vehicular accidents. “Construction of 1,000 cow shelters is in progress,” he tweeted.