Rajya Sabha polls: MP minister accuses Congress of being 'anti-Dalit'

BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh minister Narottam Mishra accused the Congress of betraying the party's Dalit leader, Phool Singh Baraiya, by placing him as the second preference nominee in the Rajya Sabha polls held in the state on Friday. Voting for the three vacant Rajya Sabha seats in MP were held in the state assembly complex earlier in the day.
While the BJP had fielded senior leader and former Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and former professor of a government college Sumer Singh Solanki, the Congress had fielded party veteran Digvijaya Singh and Dalit leader Phool Singh Baraiya.
"The Congress has betrayed the Dalit leader. Why did the Congress field him as itssecond nominee when it did not have the number on their side to make him win?" Mishra said.
The state home minister was talking to reporters in response to a query. regarding Baraiya.
The Congress has 92 MLAs in the House. Of them, the party had asked 54 to vote for the party's first preference candidate Digvijaya Singh during the Rajya Sabha polls.
Although Digvijaya Singh looked set to sail through, Baraiya, placed after Singh in the pecking order by his party, did not have the numbers on his side to win.
According to the existing strength of the assembly, Digvijaya needs 52 votes to get re-elected to the Rajya Sabha.
With remaining 38 votes, Baraiya stands a thin chance to make it to the Upper House of Parliament.
"The Congress has been anti-Dalit since beginning," Mishra said.
He also accused Digvijaya Singh of snatching the oppurtunities of some reserved category leaders in the past.