Bhopal: The third phase of polling for eight Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh will decide the fate of several prominent candidates, including Digvijay Singh and Jyotiraditya Scindia, who are the Congress candidates, and the BJP’s Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar. The campaigning for these eight seats has come to an end on Friday evening.
The contest between Congress’ Digvijay Singh and Hindutva activist and Malegaon blast case accused Pragya Thakur in Bhopal will be one of the most keenly watched fights in the election. Political observers feel that in order to shed his pro-minorities image, Digvijay Singh peddled the ‘soft Hindutva’ line by roping in seers, including Computer Baba (Namdeo Das Tyagi) who conducted ‘hath yoga’ and set afire cow dung cakes.
They also conducted a roadshow in support of Digvijay Singh in the state capital to woo voters. On the other hand, Pragya Thakur highlighted her alleged torture in police custody to win the sympathy of voters in Bhopal, which has been a BJP bastion since 1989.
She also blamed martyred IPS officer Hemant Karkare for her alleged torture in custody and claimed that he died because she cursed him, a statement which was condemned at the national level by all and for which she also apologised and later withdrew it on the ground that it was benefitting her rivals.
Later her statement on demolition of Babri mosque in Ayodhya had also put her in trouble after which the Election Commission imposed 72-hour ban on her campaigning.