A fresh political controversy has erupted in Madhya Pradesh, after Congress Party’s Rajya Sabha candidate Meenakshi Natarajan created a storm by rejecting her nomination. However, a BJP minister has now alleged a major rift within the Congress, claiming that the papers citing Natarajan’s papers containing errors came from Telangana.
“In the end, who gave us the papers? They came from Telangana, where the (Congress) government is in power. It must be the Congress members themselves who gave us the information,” Madhya Pradesh state minister Kailash Vijayvargiya said on Tuesday.
Natarajan was the only Congress candidate for the Rajya Sabha in Madhya Pradesh. The cancellation of her nomination by the EC means that all three BJP candidates from the state will move to the Rajya Sabha.
Natarajan, who was nominated by the Congress as a Rajya Sabha candidate in Madhya Pradesh, accused the BJP of trying to “trample the Constitution and democracy” after her nomination was rejected.
Senior Congress leaders, including KC Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh and Sachin Pilot, staged a dharna protest outside the Election Commission office in Delhi, and similar agitations were seen outside the poll panel office in Bhopal.
Claims and counterclaims
While the BJP celebrated Natarajan’s rejection of Rajya Sabha nomination and claimed errors in her papers led to the move, the Congress candidate instead claimed that the BJP fielded a third candidate for the Rajya Sabha despite lacking the numerical strength required to “rig” the polls.
“It is not just about a Rajya Sabha seat or a specific candidate; it is about the broader struggle for the ‘Idea of India’ and democracy, which our leader Rahul Gandhi is waging a decisive fight for our nation today. The question is whether democracy will prevail, whether the federal structure in India will endure, whether the attempt to impose one-party system and dictatorship will be thwarted…” Natarajan said during a media interaction on Tuesday.
Read also: Trip aborted, RS nomination cancelled, Cong’s Meenakshi Natarajan shouts: ‘Third Seat’ MP conundrum ends before it begins
However, BJP leader Rahul Kothari alleged that Natarajan’s nomination papers concealed information about summons issued by the Chief Justice (CJM) of Hyderabad. As reported earlier by HT, on condition of anonymity, an Assembly official also said that her nomination has been canceled after taking into account the BJP leader’s complaint and alleged discrepancies in disclosing her assets.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav also said that Natarajan hid a criminal record and welcomed the cancellation of her nomination. “The information deliberately withheld by the Congress candidate amounts to the crime of concealing a criminal record. In fact, if a person has a criminal case pending in any court, it should be disclosed in the affidavit so that every voter is aware of all relevant details when he becomes a candidate,” Yadav said in a media interaction.
Amid mounting controversy, the Election Commission is expected to meet with a congressional delegation on Wednesday.
