Old habits die hard and Jyotiraditya Scindia, who changed camp from the Congress to the BJP in March, became proof of it yesterday, seeking votes for the Congress in a massive faux pas at a public meeting.
While campaigning in Dhabra for party colleague Imarti Devi — who made headlines recently over Kamal Nath’s “item” jibe — Jyotiraditya Scindia made an impassioned plea to the crowd to vote for “panja (hand)” — the Congress election symbol.
“Just raise and hands and reassure me and Shivraj Singh (Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan), my people of Dhabra, my lively beautiful people… that on 3rd (of November) you will press the panja button,” he said.
Though he corrected himself, there was tittering from the crowd and even the candidate standing beside him could be seen grinning.
The Congress later pasted the video on its twitter handle, with a cheeky caption.
“Scindia-ji, the people of Madhya Pradesh are assuring you that on November 3, only the panja button will be pressed,” the Hindi caption said.
Imarti Devi was among the 22 MLAs who left the Congress fold and joined the BJP in March, bringing down the government of Kamal Nath. In the run-up to the campaign, he had called her “item”, for which he was denounced across the board.
Yesterday, Mr Scindia alleged that Mr Nath had called him a dog.
“Kamal Nath ji came here to Ashoknagar and called me a dog. Haan, Kamal Nath ji, main kutta hoon (Yes, I am a dog) because the public is my master. Yes, I am a dog, because a dog protects its master,” Mr Scindia said at a campaign rally
