Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Stepping up the war of words ahead of polling in the Indore-Malwa region, Congress state chief Jitu Patwari accused the BJP of 'kidnapping' their Indore candidate Akshay Kanti Bam.
Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Patwari said that "a political mafia committed a Dawood Ibrahim gang-styled sin by kidnapping their candidate ahead of Lok Sabha elections."
Notably, Bam withdrew his nomination on April 29, which simply chucked the Congress out of the poll race for the Indore Lok Sabha seat.
The Congress is now appealing to the people of Indore to consider NOTA (None of the Above) as their candidate after Akshay Bam opted out of the poll race and joined the BJP. The ruling party’s sitting MP, Shankar Lalwani, is in the fray from Indore.
Congress State President Jitu Patwari said, "We have read and heard about the land mafia, liquor mafia, and education mafia operating in Indore so far. Now, the political mafia has flourished in the city, just as Dawood Ibrahim's gang used to operate in Mumbai and was involved in criminal incidents like the gang war."
Patwari alleged that the ruling party which considers itself as a ‘party with difference’ committed a ‘disgusting crime’ against the people of Indore by forcing their candidate to withdraw his nomination.
"Every person in Indore has realised that the Congress candidate has been kidnapped by the political mafia. 90 per cent of the people of Indore has not liked this sin,” the congress leader alleged.
MP Congress president also urged his party workers to reach out to general public and appeal them to use NOTA to teach the ruling party a lesson.
"Even though our candidate is not in the electoral field in Indore this time, Congress workers should sit on tables and chairs near every booth on the day of polling and work and consider NOTA as our candidate," said Patwari appealing his party workers.
Patwari also alleged that the Indore Municipal Corporation paid Rs 150 crore to contractors in the name of laying drainage lines in the city but the work was not done on the ground.
