Digivijaya Singh to contest Lok Sabha elections from Bhopal, announces Kamal Nath

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

The development comes days after Nath said that if Singh wants to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, he should choose the “toughest seat” in the state.

Responsing to this, Singh had said that he was ready to contest from wherever party chief 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 the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The seat was the represented by Congress' KN Pradhan.

In 2014 Parliamentary elections, the BJP won 27 seats in Madhya Pradesh while the Congress' tally was 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.

Singh's choice of seat is hotly debated in the faction-ridden Congress. While a section of leaders want him to contest from Rajgarh, a "safe" seat, the gauntlet to enter the poll fray from either Indore or Bhopal is also thrown at him at the behest of another faction.