Laxman

Bhopal, March 25: Politicians may be battling for their kin across the country, but brothers are falling out with their siblings in Madhya Pradesh.

Matters have come to such a pass that the estranged brothers of Digvijay Singh and Uma Bharti may cross swords in the Rajgarh Lok Sabha constituency.

Six months ago, Laxman Singh was urging voters to make elder brother Digvijay Singh “another Jyoti Basu” by electing him to a third successive term as chief minister. But he has since crossed over to the BJP, is being fielded from Rajgarh and now mocks whatever Digvijay stood for.

Just to rub it in, Laxman has begun making noises about Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin from the ancestral Raghogarh Fort that used to be a Congress citadel.

The political journey of the other brother, chief minister Uma’s elder sibling Swami Prasad Lodhi, has been even more convoluted over the last six months. Lodhi was about to join the Congress in September 2003, but dropped his hostility towards Uma to make his “daughter-like sister” chief minister two months later.

Unfortunately for him, he lost the Pichore Assembly seat in Shivpuri district even though the BJP won by a landslide. Having failed to win a Lok Sabha ticket for himself from Khajuraho, Lodhi has turned against his sister with a vengeance.

He spewed venom on Uma today, saying: “In this world of six billion human beings, I have one enemy and that is my sister Uma Bharti.”

Lodhi, known to be temperamental, admitted he is again knocking on the Congress’ door.

“I have spoken to (Madhya Pradesh Congress chief) Subhash Yadav. I will go to Delhi to call on Sonia Gandhi,” he said, promising to take on Laxman.

“If I am given a chance, I would teach them (the BJP) a lesson,” Lodhi thundered.

Uma has told the BJP high command she is not pushing for Lodhi’s candidature. As a sadhvi, she does not want to create a political family; she is also not impressed with her brother’s political credentials after he failed to win an Assembly seat last December when the BJP romped home in Madhya Pradesh.

Lodhi is angry that even his wife Suman was rebuffed when she approached Uma seeking a ticket for him. “She (Suman) even touched her feet and it made no difference,” he said.

Lodhi added that Uma is surrounded by “Shakunis”.