BHOPAL: In what is being seen as a “poster war” between the BJP and Congress, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj was on Wednesday declared “missing” in her Vidisha parliamentary constituency.
This is the first time such “missing posters” has surfaced in Madhya Pradesh, even as they gained ground in UP over the last few weeks.
Posters with Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s pictures surfaced in his Amethi Parliamentary constituency earlier this month. It was followed by Sonia Gandhi’s “missing” posters in Amethi on the eve of the Independence Day.
Most recent was a poster of Prime Minister Narendra Modi which surfaced in Varanasi on Sunday. It carried Modi’s picture saying “Varanasi MP Narendra Modi has been missing from his own constituency”.
Posters with pictures of Sushma Swaraj read “search for missing MP” and were pasted at different parts of Vidisha, her Lok Sabha constituency.
The poster further says – “Farmers in Vidisha are dying – MP is missing, Businessmen of Vidsha area troubled – MP is missing, Vidisha youths are unemployed – MP is missing, poor and labours of Vidisha are crying – MP is missing, etc.”
While Congress leaders say Swaraj had hardly visited Vidisha ever since she won the last Lok Sabha poll, BJP leaders told local media that she was not able to visit due to health issues. While filing nomination, Swaraj had assured people to strive for all-round development of the constituency, said a Congress leader.
Swaraj had won against Congress candidate Lakshman Singh by 7,14,348 votes in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Located around 50km from Bhopal, Vidisha was once represented by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
