Stones hurled at Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan's vehicle in Sidhi district

Stones were hurled at Chouhan's vehicle in Churhat area, which is the assembly constituency of Leader of Opposition Ajay Singh, Madhya Pradesh BJP spokesman Rajnish Agrawal said.
The Jan Ashirwad Yatra (JAY) bus of Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, which was attacked in the Sidhi district. | Express Photo Services
The Jan Ashirwad Yatra (JAY) bus of Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, which was attacked in the Sidhi district. | Express Photo Services

BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's ongoing statewide Jan Ashirwad Yatra was attacked on Sunday night in Sidhi, the home district of Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly Ajay Singh 'Rahul.'

The incident happened when the Jan Ashirwad Yatra (JAY) bus boarded by the CM was passing through Patpara village (600 km from Bhopal), which comes under Ajay Singh's assembly constituency Churhat.

The CM, however, escaped the incident unhurt. 

Around 20 men suspected to be involved in the incident have been detained and are being questioned, Inspector-in-charge of Churhat police station Ram Babu Choudhary said on Monday.

Later addressing a public meeting in Sidhi district as part of the JAY, the CM challenged Ajay Singh to come in the open and fight him.

"Ajay Singh, if you really have the guts, then come in the open and fight me," said Chouhan.

"Whatever I'm today is due to my hard work and commitment to people of the state and not because I hail from a particular political family," said Chouhan referring to Singh being the son of ex-CM and former Union Minister Arjun Singh.

The BJP state spokesperson Deepak Vijayvargiya alleged Congress hand in the incident, saying that the principal opposition party has become nervous due to large crowds being drawn by the JAY.

Singh, however, denied Chouhan and BJP's allegations. 

"The Congress doesn't believe in the culture of violence. The incident is a planned attempt to defame the Congress," he said in a hand-written press note.

Earlier in the evening black flags were shown to CM's Yatra in Mayapur area of Sidhi district by a crowd protesting last month's passing of the bill by the Parliament to amend the Prevention of Atrocities Against SC/ST Act.

Video clips of the protest around CM's JAY vehicle showed protestors asking Chouhan, "Mamaji Thakur Brahmin ka karein (what should the Thakur-Brahmin, general category people do)," a man was seen in the video clip raising his voice near the door of the CM's vehicle.

The protestors against the amended SC/ST Act raised slogans like Shivraj Singh Murdabad and Shivraj Singh Vapas Jao.

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