2019 LS Polls: Digvijaya Singh to contest as Congress candidate from Bhopal, says Kamal Nath

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath on Saturday announced that Congress party's senior leader Digvijaya Singh will contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Bhopal Lok Sabha seat.

Digvijaya Singh (Source: PTI)

Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath on Saturday announced that Congress party's senior leader Digvijaya Singh will contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Bhopal Lok Sabha seat. The announcement comes days after Nath said that if the former MP CM wants to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, he should choose the “toughest seat” in the state. Responding to Kamal Nath, Singh had said that he was ready to contest from wherever party president Rahul Gandhi wants him to, adding that "accepting challenges was his habit". Earlier, Congress sources said Nath is keen that Singh contest from Bhopal. Former President late Shankar Dayal Sharma was the last Congress winner from the seat in the 1984 general elections. The Congress had last won Bhopal constituency in 1984, after assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. In 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 27 seats in Madhya Pradesh while the Congress fared miserably winning just two. Normally, Singh and his family members have contested Lok Sabha elections from their traditional Rajgarh seat. Singh had represented Rajgarh in 1984 and 1991. His brother Laxman Singh had represented the seat in 1994 (bypoll), 1996, 1998, and 1999 from Congress, and in 2004 from BJP. In 2009, Digvijaya Singh loyalist Narayan Singh Amlabe won from Rajgarh.