Senior Congress leaders must give up 'safe seat' approach: Aslam Sher Khan

BHOPAL: Congress leader Aslam Sher Khan today said prominent party functionaries should give up the comfort of contesting from their traditional Lok Sabha seats and fight from new constituencies in an attempt to put up a spirited challenge against BJP in Madhya Pradesh.

Instead of fighting from their safe seats, senior Congressmen should contest from new ones to instill confidence among party workers, he said and took the names of Union Ministers Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia in this regard, elected repeatedly from Chhindwara and Guna respectively.

"In this context, I feel that Kamal Nath must contest from Jabalpur instead of Chhindwara and Jyotiraditya Scindia from Vidisha in place of Guna," Khan told reporters here.

This will help enthuse Congress workers and mount a stiff challenge to the BJP, which comfortably won the last year's Assembly election in the state, he said.

The former hockey Olympian said he was happy with Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi's decision to hold primaries for at least two Lok Sabha constituencies in Madhya Pradesh.

According to him, 50 per cent of the tickets for an election should be decided by Congress workers and the rest by senior leaders.

If such an approach is followed, Congress will easily win elections, the former Lok Sabha MP said.