The political temperature in Madhya Pradesh has soared ahead of the Assembly polls as the Congress and the BJP trade barbs against...

The political temperature in Madhya Pradesh has soared ahead of the Assembly polls as the Congress and the BJP trade barbs against each other over videos targeting Congress' leaders. Early this week newly-appointed Madhya Pradesh Congress president Kamal Nath had dubbed Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan "nalayak" (unworthy) at a press conference. "Some of my friends are 'layak' (worthy), while some of them are 'nalayak' (unworthy)," Nath said when asked about his friendship with the BJP chief minister. Chouhan, reacting to Nath's jibe, said he was unworthy because he had worked for the people of the state and he listed the welfare schemes launched by the BJP government. Chouhan also referred to his decision to regularise illegal colonies in the state, thereby providing relief to a large number of people. Meanwhile, a video, inspired by TV serial Ramayan, surfaced on social media, depicting Chouhan as Angad, a character from the sacred epic. The clip shows Nath and two other Congress leaders, Digvijay Singh and Jyotiraditya Scindia, trying to lift Angad (Chouhan). The video came in the wake of BJP president Amit Shah's recent statement at a function where he had said the Congress could not unseat Chouhan as he stands his ground firmly like Angad. The BJP distanced itself from the video, while the Congress filed a complaint. "We have filed a complaint with the Cyber Cell of the Madhya Pradesh Police demanding registration of cases against BJP leaders under relevant sections of the IT Act for morphing pictures of Congress leaders in a derogatory manner," party leader JP Dhanopia told PTI.

"We have named the state BJP's IT Cell in-charge Shivraj Singh Dabi, state BJP president Rakesh Singh and the chief minister as accused in the complaint," Dhanopia said. Soon a second video surfaced on social media, mocking senior Congress leaders with the popular Bollywood song 'All is Well,' from the movie '3 Idiots', playing in the background. Dhanopia has filed a separate complaint with the Cyber Cell over the second video. The video shows morphed pictures of Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Nath, Digvijay Singh, Scindia and Ajay Singh. Dhanopia, who has named Mumbai BJP spokesman Suresh Nakuwa in the second complaint, said the video damaged the reputation of party leaders. State Finance Minister Jayant Malaiya also took potshots at Nath (71), calling him a 'bujurg' (old man). Speaking in Indore, Malaiya, who himself is 71-years-old, said it will be difficult for a "bujurg" like Nath to take on a young Chouhan (59) in the Assembly polls likely to held by the year-end. To counter the saffron outfit, state Congress chiefs media coordinator Narendra Saluja released a list of BJP ministers who are 65 and above. The list included the names of Gopal Bhargava (65), Kusum Mehdele (74) and Rustam Singh (73). State BJP spokesman Rajnish Agrawal said his party had nothing to do with the two videos which targeted Congress leaders. "The BJP has nothing to do with these comic videos. We are not aware who uploaded them. Anybody can post anything on social media," Agrawal said.