The Congress party has suspended two party leaders from Indore. The reason is that the two leaders—Surjeet Chaddha and Sadashiv Yadav—greeted Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kailash Vijayvargiya with garlands and sweets when he visited the Congress party’s district office in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, earlier this month.
Indore Congress leaders, including Chaddha and Yadav, welcomed Madhya Pradesh Urban Development Minister Vijayvargiya and other BJP leaders at the district Congress office on July 12. Vijayvargiya was at the Congress office in Indore seeking the party’s support for his appeal to plant 51 lakh saplings in Indore. The BJP leader was welcomed with garlands and sweets, leading to the suspension of the two Congress leaders.
“A person (Vijayvargiya) who murdered democratic values in the city of Mother Ahilya and committed the act of snatching the right to vote from the people of Indore, shaming Indore in the country and abroad, was also condemned by the people of Indore. Welcoming such a person in Indore District Congress Committee’s Gandhi Bhavan falls under the category of indiscipline,” reads the letter suspending the two Congress leaders as quoted by Indian Express.
The letter was issued by MP Congress vice president (organisation) Rajeev Singh. Congress spokesperson Mukesh Nayak asked why such a welcome was given to the leader who ‘took away’ the party’s candidate in the Lok Sabha elections.
Vijayvargiya is considered one of the men behind the Congress candidate Akshay Bam’s resignation and subsequent switch to the BJP, days ahead of Lok Sabha Elections 2024. The Congress didn’t field any candidate for theIndore seat eventually and instead supported NOTA. BJP leader Shankar Lalwani won the seat by arecord margin of 11.75 lakh votes.
The two suspended leaders, Chaddha, the working president of the party’s district unit, and Yadav, the president of Indore Congress’s rural unit, are suspended until a decision is taken on their replies, Nayak said
The two leaders said the welcome was accorded as a ‘political courtesy’ as Vijayvargiya had visited the party office.
