BHOPAL: With a possible Congress-BSP alliance not taking shape in Madhya Pradesh, principal opposition party Congress played the Dalit card in the Assembly poll-bound state on Thursday.
The party’s national general secretary in-charge of Madhya Pradesh, Deepak Babaria, announced that the post of Deputy Chief Minister could go to Dalit leader Surendra Choudhary if the party came to power in the state.
“Out of the 35 SC reserved category Assembly seats in the state, we won just three last time. Make us win 25 or 30 out of these 35 seats this time and we might well have Surendra Choudhary as the deputy CM in the state on Congress assuming power,” said Babaria.
The senior Congress leader made the announcement at a meeting of Buddha Samaj Samuhik Kalyan Samiti at the State Congress headquarters in Bhopal in the presence of party leaders, including Surendra Choudhary.
Considered a close confidant of former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh, the 50-year-old Choudhary was among the four leaders appointed as the state party’s working presidents in April.
Choudhary, a former MLA from Naryawali assembly constituency of Sagar district, was a minister in the erstwhile Digvijaya Singh government in MP.
Choudhary who won the Naryawali seat in 1998, lost from the same seat to ruling BJP candidate in 2008 and 2013. Choudhary hails from the Ahirwar caste, which has a sizeable presence in entire Bundelkhand region of MP.