Madhya Pradesh Congress president Kamal Nath said on October 16 that the poll contest between his party’s candidate Vikram Mastal and Chief Minister and BJP candidate Shivraj Singh Chouhan in the Budhni Assembly segment would be a “kalakar vs kalakar” show.
“Definitely! This is definitely kalakar vs kalakar. I think, there should be a debate between both of them and we will find out who is a bigger kalakar [artist]. Shivraj ji will defeat our Vikram Mastal [and prove] that he is a bigger kalakar,” Mr. Nath said, responding to a question from reporters in Bhopal.
The Congress has fielded Mr. Mastal, a TV actor-turned-politician who played the role of Lord Hanuman in the Ramayan serial that featured on TV in 2008, from Sehore district’s Budhni, the traditional seat of Mr. Chouhan.
Mr. Chouhan had first won from Budhni in 1990 but went on to become an MP from Vidisha in 1991. He then returned to contest from the constituency in the 2006 bypolls after becoming Chief Minister in 2005 and has held it ever since.
Mr. Nath has been frequently attacking the 18-year Chief Minister saying that he is an “artist” who has “deceived” the people of the State.
The Congress leader also took potshots at Mr. Chouhan’s recent “I will rise from ashes like a phoenix” remarks and said he should tell this to his own party.
“He should say that to the BJP, not me. Why isn’t the BJP declaring him as its CM face?,” Mr. Nath asked.
First list of Cong.
The Congress had released its first list of 144 candidates on Sunday. He said 65 of them were below the age of 50 and 19 were women.
When asked about upset party leaders who failed to secure a ticket, Mr. Nath said that as many as 4,000 people had applied for party tickets and everybody could not get one.
“I am in touch with them. I tell them only one thing that it’s not just about a candidate and that we [the party leadership] have to look at many things like caste equations in an entire district,” he said.
“We decided the names after discussing with everyone. It was a challenge to pick the winning candidates, who also fit in the caste equations, from 4,000 applications.”
Mr. Nath also said the candidates for Assembly seats in Chhindwara district would be announced by his son Nakul Nath. “The announcement of Chhindwara’s seats will first be done there and then from Delhi,” he said.
