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BJP can win polls by calling up the collector, says MP minister, Congress to approach EC

MP minister Imarti Devi’s claim has sparked a controversy with the Congress saying the BJP wants to win polls by misusing power, while the latter has called it a conspiracy.

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Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Women and Child Development Minister Imarti Devi’s claim that an election could be won by the BJP by just calling up the collector (of the district in which the constituency falls) has sparked a controversy.

“We (BJP) have to win just eight seats and they (Congress) will have to win all 27 seats to come back to power. Will the ruling party lower its guards to such an extent that they will win all seats? The party in power is so powerful that it can call up the collector to say it wants to win a seat and will win it,’’ she told at a small gathering, the video of which has gone viral. It is, however, not clear when and where Devi made these remarks.

In the 230-member MP assembly, the BJP has 107 seats while the Congress has been reduced to 89 seats after 25 MLAs resigned and joined the BJP. 

By-elections to 27 seats, including two vacant seats caused by deaths, is due. One more Congress MLA died Tuesday, but the seat is yet to be declared vacant.

Devi, a loyalist of former Congressman Jyotiraditya Scindia whose rebellion brought down the Congress government in March, will have to win an election to validate her stay in office. 

ThePrint reached Devi for a comment through phone calls, but there was no response until the time of publishing this report.


Also read: Don’t curtail oxygen supply to MP during Covid crisis, Shivraj Chouhan tells Uddhav


BJP says ‘Congress conspiracy’

Reacting to Devi’s remarks, spokesperson of MP Congress Narendra Saluja said: “One can understand how the BJP wants to win the by-elections by misusing power.”

Saluja, who is also the media coordinator of former chief minister Kamal Nath, said the party would lodge a complaint with the EC.

BJP spokesman Rajneesh Agrawal, however, called it a “Congress conspiracy”, saying that the “minister has denied making that statement”. 

He also said she won the last election (in 2018 as a Congress candidate) when the BJP was in power.

Known for her controversies

Devi is, however, not new to controversies. 

A fortnight ago, Devi put the BJP government in the spot by asserting that she would include eggs in anganwadi meals despite knowing that Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is vehemently opposed to the idea. Chouhan Tuesday made it clear that milk, not eggs, would be served in anganwadis.

A week ago, she said she won’t contract coronavirus because she was born in soil and cow dung. 

“Only you were there and you said that I have Corona. I was born in soil and cow dung. There are so many germs there that Corona will not come anywhere near me,” she told journalists in Gwalior.

Devi, who always wears her loyalty to Scindia on her sleeves, even said in March this year she would jump into the well if her leader asked her to.

On 26 January 2019, Devi, who held the same portfolio in the previous government, fumbled while reading the Republic Day speech and, after making a slew of mistakes in less than a 30-second speech, asked the Gwalior collector, who was standing nearby, to take over and read out the written speech.


Also read: Milk, not eggs to anganwadi children — Shivraj Chouhan’s way to tackle malnutrition in MP


 

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