It's a family crisis, says Arjun Singh's son

The decision of Arjun Singh's daughter Veena Singh to contest as an independent from the Sidhi constituency has created a crisis for his family and a big dilemma for the Union minister's supporters, his son Ajay Singh said on Wednesday.

"It is obvious that Veena's decision has created crisis for the family," Ajay Singh told PTI on the phone from Sidhi in reply to a questions on Veena's decision to enter the fray after being denied a ticket.

Ajay had in a speech in Sidhi in the presence of Arjun Singh that Veena's candidature represented a big spiritual dilemma for supporters of Arjun Singh in the constituency.

Veena, however, did not agree that her decision to contest the elections had led to any crisis in the family.

"I have always worked for resolving a crisis and I do not think that I can ever cause one," she said.

The independent nominee said that during her campaign she had not come across any dilemma in the minds of the voters in the Sidhi constituency.

Ajay said that he had talked of the dilemma because of what had happened when the Tiwari Congress was formed during the prime ministership of P V Narasimha Rao in the mid 90s.

The Congress MLA said that in the 1996 Lok Sabha elections, Arjun Singh had come third in the Satna constituency but Tilakraj Singh, a nominee of the Tiwari Congress had won from Sidhi. He said at that time also he was a Congress MLA and had not joined the Tiwari Congress.

Ajay said that the same thing was likely to be repeated now and supporters of Arjun Singh in Sidhi constituency were confused about whom they should vote for in the Lok Sabha elections.

Veena was said to be in the race for a Congress ticket for Lok Sabha elections from either the Satna or Sidhi constituencies in the Vindhya region of Madhya Pradesh.

Although, Ajay says that he had never asked for a ticket from the Sidhi constituency, his name was also believed to be in the reckoning.

But in the end, Ajay did not get a ticket from Sidhi and Veena too was denied a ticket from both Satna and Sidhi.

Veena has said that she was asking for votes on the basis of the work done by her family in Sidhi for the last 50 years.