I am not a potential contender for CM's post: Digvijay Singh

Jabalpur: Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh has said he is not a potential contender for the chief minister's post in the Madhya Pradesh assembly polls, which are due next year.

"Party's top leadership will decide that who will be the party's chief ministerial face in the next assembly elections," he told reporters here on Thursday.

Earlier, veteran Congress leader Kamal Nath said that he was in favour of projecting Jyotiraditya Scindia, party's chief whip in the Lok Sabha, as the chief ministerial face.

Singh was talking to media before beginning his six- month long religious journey, 'Narmada Parikrama' tomorrow on the occasion of Dussehra.

The 70-year-old leader is embarking on the 3300 km walk along side the banks of Narmada from neighbouring Narsinghpur district.

He said the yatra is entirely a religious and spiritual exercise and that nothing political should be read into it.

Taking a jibe at the government's programme 'Namami Devi Narmade Sewa Yatra', the leader said, "(CM Shivraj Singh) Chouhan has spent hundreds of crores on publicity of 'Namami Devi...'. It was claimed that the government has planted 6 crore saplings alongside Narmada. I am not going to count it."

Singh will traverse across 110 assembly constituencies in the state and 20 assembly constituencies in Gujarat during the yatra. He will walk 20-km every day. Meanwhile, absence of mobile toilets along the 3,300 km long Narmada Parikrama (circumambulation) route has left senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh, who is starting his Yatra from tomorrow, worried.

"I don't want the dhotis (lungis) of my colleagues or mine taken off during our yatra," said Singh in an apparent reference to Ranchi Municipal Corporation's (RMC) unique idea of punishing people defecating in the open by taking away their lungis.

Singh (70) was speaking to reporters here last evening.

When he was asked about reports that the state government has not properly responded to his plea seeking mobile toilets for his 3,300 km long yatra, Singh said, "I wrote a letter to Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and chief secretary seeking mobile toilets among other things during my yatra (6-months), but an under secretary has replied to me stating that issues raised by me have been sent to departments concerned."

"This is how the protocol is being followed in the state," Singh, the former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister said.

"I had been cold shouldered over hygiene issue," he added.

"Nowadays anything can happen. Political hounding is going on in the country," Singh said.

"Arbitrary orders (Tughlaki Farmaan) are being issued under Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan (SBA)," he added.

Singh is going to start his Narmada Parikrama, a walk along the banks of the river Narmada, from the holy Barman Ghat after seeking the blessings of his Guru Dwarka-Sharda Peeth Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati, at Narsinghpur tomorrow.

Congress sources said Singh is undertaking this arduous exercise on the advice of Shankaracharya Swaroopanand Saraswati.

The Congress leader will pass through 110 assembly constituencies in Madhya Pradesh and 20 assembly constituencies in Gujarat during his journey.

Assembly elections are due in the BJP-ruled state next year.

Singh, descendant of the erstwhile royal family of Raghogarh, would be missing Dussehra festival -- falling on September 30 -- celebrations at the Raghogarh fort in Guna district for the first time this year. His family's tradition of celebrating Dussehra in a grand way dates backs to over three centuries.