Digvijaya Singh softens stance on Bajrang Dal

Bhopal: Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Wednesday apparently softened his stance on the Bajrang Dal , saying the grand-old party will not ban the right-wing outfit if voted to power in Madhya Pradesh.

During a press conference at Congress headquarters in Bhopal, Digvijaya said, "We will not ban Bajrang Dal if voted to power in Madhya Pradesh as there can be some good people also, but we will not spare anyone involved in riots or violence."

In May, he had stated that if voted to power in Madhya Pradesh, his party will file a case of treason against BJP and Bajrang Dal functionaries, alleging that "they spy for Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)."

Meanwhile, responding on whether the Congress would release the list of candidates for 66 assembly seats he had been assigned to review the poll preparations, he said, "the selection of candidates would be done by party's state election committee after consulting with the national election committee.”

The former chief minister had been assigned a mammoth task to strengthen the party's position in 66 assembly seats that the Congress has lost in more than three elections in the state.

For that, he had met Congress leaders and workers of the Berasia in Bhopal on February 17, soon after the end of the Bharat Jodo Yatra.

He had visited Budhni, constituency of chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Rehti, constituency of PWD Minister Gopal Bhargava, Khurai seat of Minister for Urban Administration Bhupendra Singh, Badnawar, constituency of Minister for Industrial Policy Rajvardhan Singh Dattigaon, Govindpura seat of former chief minister Babulal Gaur, now represented by his daughter-in-law and BJP MLA Krishna Gaur, Harsud seat of Forest Minister Vijay Shah, Sanchi of Health Minister Prabhuram Choudhary and Shivpuri, represented by Minister for Youth Welfare Yashodhara Raje Scindia.