Bhopal Rally not cancelled, only deferred, says Randeep Surjewala 

INDIA bloc's first rally in Bhopal deferred due to pre-planned campaign; Congress rejects BJP's claims of avoiding Sanatana Dharma debate; Shivraj Singh Chauhan accused of misdeeds and hiding behind excuses.

Clearing the air on the cancellation of INDIA bloc’s first rally that was scheduled to be held in the first week of October in Bhopal as announced by the bloc’s coordination committee, Congress general secretary in-charge for Madhya Pradesh Randeep Surjewala said, that the rally has only been deferred for now because the dates clashed with a pre-planned campaign programme. 

“The Bhopal rally has not been canceled. The Congress party in Madhya Pradesh is undertaking an 11400 Km long seven yatra starting on September 19. The yatras were announced earlier and have a fixed route of 1700-2000 Km each. And it will take about 15-days to be completed. Since October 2 (the proposed date for the rally) falls in the middle of these scheduled yatras we have had to stop them,” Mr. Surjewala told The Hindu. 

He said that if the Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, dictates that the yatras be stopped for the rally, the party will abide by his orders. “We can stop it if the party wants but we have requested the party in light of the pre-planned yatras, we may temporarily shift the venue elsewhere. Whenever another rally is to be held we are happy to host it in Bhopal,” he added.  

Mr. Surjewala rejected the BJP’s claims that the Congress didn’t want the rally in Madhya Pradesh to insulate itself from the Sanatana Dharma debate that started with DMK leader Udayanidhi Stalin’s debate. 

“Shivraj Singh Chauhan is lording over the most corrupt government in the history of the country . He has demolished the architecture of the state of Madhya Pradesh in the last 18 and a half years. He has now been rejected by his own party and not projected as the Chief Ministerial candidate for his misdeeds. He is hiding behind these lame excuses,” he added.