Bhopal: A Congress MLA on Sunday exhorted tribals to work tirelessly till Madhya Pradesh, where Assembly polls will be held at the end of the year, gets someone from their community as Chief Minister.
"Do you all want that MP should have a tribal CM, then don't sit back home, till MP has a tribal CM. I'm not talking about myself, I'm speaking for my samaj so that a tribal becomes the CM. I'm not endeared to politicians, but am loved by tribals. I talk and fight for the cause of tribals, which is why many people get offended due to me. But I'm not the one to be scared,'' said former state minister and Congress legislator Umang Singhar while addressing his supporters.
Umang Singhar is the nephew of late Jamuna Devi, who was the deputy Chief Minister in the Digvijaya Singh-led Congress in the state between 1998 and 2003.
Several Congress leaders have routinely said veteran leader and state unit president Kamal Nath will be the party's Chief Ministerial face in the Assembly polls.
"Everyone has his own thoughts, only he (Singhar) knows what is on his target through the statement. There is a system and tradition in our party for deciding the Chief Minister, look who are the CMs in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.'' said Kamal Nath reacting to Mr Singhar's statement.
Home minister Narottam Mishra said, "We're convinced about what Umang says, he is the same man, who, while being a cabinet minister in the erstwhile Congress government, had bravely and openly spoken the truth about ex CM Digvijaya Singh running the then Kamal Nath government from behind the curtain. Now he has dared to speak another bitter truth about how the Congress has repeatedly side-lined the true tribal leaders. We salute Umang for speaking the truth,"
Out of the total 230 assembly seats, 47 are reserved for the scheduled tribes, who form 21% of the state's population.
Madhya Pradesh is the state with the largest tribal population.
In 2008 polls, the BJP had won 29 tribal reserved seats, while Congress could win 18 seats. In 2013, the BJP raised its tally to 32 seats, while Congress managed just 15. However, in 2018, the Congress won 31 seats, while BJP could win only 15.