Chouhan slams Digvijay Singh in MP Assy

Bhopal, Feb 23 (UNI) Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today targeted All India Congress Committee General Secretary and former chief minister Digvijay Singh by saying that the strength the Congress ought to display as the Assembly's main opposition was being demonstrated by its leaders through rallies that were part of a battle for dominance.

''That party has failed in fulfilling its role in the opposition,'' he said while placing the Congress in the dock during a reply to a three-day debate on Governor Balram Jakhar's address to the Vidhan Sabha on February 19 -- the budget session's inaugural day.

Pointing out that the Assembly was a forum in which the opposition could corner the government, Mr Chouhan alleged that the Congress was neither aware nor alert.

Referring to the alleged battle for dominance between Mr Singh and the Congress' Guna MP Jyotiraditya Scindia, he added that the rallies were neither for public welfare nor against government policies but were unalloyedly for demonstrating strength.

Taking a dig at Mr Singh's declaration -- made during 2003 -- that he would not accept any post for a decade, the Chief Minister said, ''it seems that the memory of the Chief Minister's chair keeps haunting him. Towering leaders such as Mr Singh and state Congress President Subhash Yadav should attend House proceedings in their capacity as members,'' he added.

UNI