Former Madhya Pradesh home minister Narottam Mishra tore into state Congress chief Jitu Patwari, calling him a liar and a person who indulged in character assassination.
Mishra was upset over the absence of Umang Singhar, the Congress legislative party chief, from electioneering. This, Mishra said, is indicative of the party’s deliberate ignoring of tribal issues.
Singhar’s election as the leader of the opposition in the state assembly had not gone down well with some of the senior Congress leaders. The move to appoint him as the opposition leader, however, is the party’s attempt to harness the tribal vote, which had in large parts turned away from it in the 2023 Vidhan Sabha elections, resulting in the defeat of the Congress. The Congress is banking on the hope that it will be able to send out a message that while the BJP has not given the state’s tribals anything, the INC wants to promote their interests and hence has appointed a tribal as the chief in the Vidhan Sabha.
Addressing a press conference, Mishra said Singhar was a “true follower” of Rahul Gandhi and thus he neither knew correct Hindi nor maths. This was a reference to Patwari’s counting of the number of deserters from the Congress who have recently joined the BJP.
Mishra said Patwari was walking alone while he should be consulting senior party leaders like Kamal Nath and Digvijay Singh.
He said the condition of the Congress had worsened under Patwari and that there was a constant stream of people from his party who were joining the BJP.
In a press conference on March 27, Patwari had said all those who had joined the BJP had already been removed by the Congress as these were the same people who had worked against the party’s interests in the Vidhan Sabha polls. Patwari had also said only those who were involved in “wrongdoing” were joining the BJP out of fear.
Mishra has repeatedly said many Congress leaders are in touch with the BJP and people joining the party will continue.
