India News | Eyebrows Raised as BJP MP Conducts Surprise Inauguration of Passport Office on Scindia Turf

Guna, Feb 24 (PTI) Guna Lok Sabha member KP Singh Yadav on Saturday conducted an 'unscheduled' inauguration of a passport office during its inspection, a move Congress dubbed the politics of "one-upmanship" in the BJP in the home ground of Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.

Yadav claimed he inaugurated the passport office on the auspicious day of Ravidas Jayanti ahead of the imposition of the model code for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

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However, a local Posts Department official claimed the formal inauguration was tentatively scheduled in the first week of March and authorities had asked him to start preparations.

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Notably, Yadav had defeated Scindia from the Guna constituency in the 2019 elections when the latter was in Congress.

Scindia crossed over to the BJP in March 2020. He is currently a Rajya Sabha MP.

Yadav, also a former Congressman, was a supporter of Scindia before joining BJP in the run-up to the last LS elections.

On Saturday, Yadav reached the Passport Sewa Kendra (PSK), located on the premises of the main post office in Guna, for inspection and 'inaugurated' it.

Queried by reporters later about the unscheduled inauguration, Yadav said it was overdue.

"I inaugurated the passport office today on the auspicious occasion of Ravidas Jayanti. About 700 passports have been made through this office so far," the MP said.

He said local people are happy with this facility.

"I wanted this passport office to be inaugurated by any Union minister. I wanted to inaugurate it before the assembly elections last year but it was not possible. I inaugurated it as the model code of conduct for Lok Sabha elections could be imposed soon," he said.

Yadav claimed he had already spoken to higher authorities and they were "positively inclined" towards the inauguration of the passport office at his hands.

On the other hand, Guna's Main Post Office superintendent Vinay Shrivastava said he was informed that the Guna MP was paying a formal visit to the passport office on Saturday.

"I have come to receive him. I have no information (about the inauguration) and neither can I say anything on this issue," he told reporters.

Shrivastava, however, told PTI over the phone that senior authorities had earlier conveyed to him to schedule inaugural preparations tentatively for the first week of March.

POPSK was set up at the initiative of Scindia, who was informed about setting up the office in Guna by the Minister for Foreign Affairs S Jaishankar in a letter in March last year, sources claimed.

Taking potshots at BJP, state Congress media cell chairman KK Mishra said KP Singh, who won the elections by over 1 lakh votes, has all rights to inaugurate a Central establishment like a passport office.

"This is the game of one-upmanship going on in the ruling party," he said.

On the other hand, state BJP secretary Rajnish Agrawal said the matter is not related to the party and only the officials concerned can reply.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)