Congress doesn’t need a chief ministerial face in Madhya Pradesh: Jyotiraditya Scindia

Q: Am I talking to the next chief minister of Madhya Pradesh?
A: You’re talking to a jan sevak of the people for the last 16 years, every breath of my life is for the service of the people.

Q: But don’t the people need a face? Why has your party not announced a chief ministerial candidate?

A: It doesn’t matter, a chief ministerial candidate doesn’t matter. The most important thing is to get rid of this government and its maya jaal. The BJP also did not declare a chief minister face either in UP or Bihar. Our is a people centric campaign, you don’t always need to project a face.

Q: But isn’t your party beset by pactionalism, Digvijay vs Scindia vs Kamal Nath?

A: Journalists like you like to say so. And yes in the past it was absolutely true, there were factions. But we have worked hard at coming together, we have worked at creating a joint front and I would say the BJP is more fragmented than we are. They’re the ones with the factions. In the Congress we are working together, Congress is united in Madhya Pradesh.

Q: But didn’t you and Digvijaya Singh have a public spat on ticket seekers?

A: That’s been talked about a lot, so I would like to set the record straight. Nothing of the sort ever happened. Its completely fake news. Me and Digvijaya Singhji have never exchanged a discordant note. Yes we may have differences of opinion among us, everyone has differences in views. Differences are a healthy thing. But there was never any kind of spat at all. In fact the minute this came out we immediately put out a strong contradiction.

Q: Are you worried that Madhya Pradesh is a BJP fortress for the last 15 years?

A: MP is not a BJP fortress. The people of Madhya Pradesh do not think like that, it’s the BJP which assumes so, in its arrogance.

Q: Do you regret that you didn’t work in Madhya Pradesh for 5 years as Sachin Pilot has done in Rajasthan, and remained in Delhi for too long?

A: I abide by whatever decision the party takes for me. These are party decisions and as a disciplined party soldier I follow what my leadership tells me. It was the party decision to appoint Arun Yadav as PCC chief, then Kamal Nathji has PCC chief. The what ifs don’t matter, the reality is whatever the party decides.

Q: Rahul Gandhi is temple hopping in MP, will soft Hindutva work?

A: There’s no concept of soft hindutva or hard hindutva or hindutva. My religion is Hinduism which is less of a religion and more of a philosophy. The BJP has nothing to do with Hinduism, they are just kattarvadis whose sole purpose is to pour poison among people. My religion is my personal property, nobody has a right to it, or has any right to monopolise Hinduism. The so called religosity of the BJP is highly mistaken and nothing to do with the true spirit of Hinduism which has nothing to do with hate and violence or the kind of posion they are spreading. When Scindia or Kamal Nathji or Rahul ji visit temples they are only abiding by their beliefs.

Q: isn’t the lack of organizational strength a worry for the Congress?

A: Don’t agree that we don’t have organizational strength. We have a tremendous organizational set up. But we have to combat the money power of the BJP, all they have is money power, but we will defeat dhan-bal (money power) through jan bal (people power)

Q: Are you worried about the Modi factor, he always comes in at the last stage of the campaign and turns elections around?

A: The BJP will do what it has to do, we are doing things our way. We are ramping up our campaign in stages, we don’t want to peak too early. The Congress is a strong party in Madhya Pradesh. We are focused on serving the people who are battling the worst agrarian crisis. Our mudda is badlav, change, change the state government, make the government work for farmers, youth and women.