Congress chief Kharge to address rally in Sagar in Madhya Pradesh's Bundelkhand on August 22

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge will address a public meeting in Sagar in Madhya Pradesh's Bundelkhand region on Tuesday.

Polls are expected to be held in the state at the end of the year.

Kharge will address a meeting on Tuesday afternoon, MP Congress media cell chairperson KK Mishra told PTI.

'He will reach Bhopal in the morning and then proceed to Sagar by road along with MP Congress president Kamal Nath,' Mishra said.

Congress sources said Kharge was scheduled to address a rally in Sagar on August 13 but it was called off.

Incidentally, on August 12, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone of the Rs 100 crore memorial-cum-temple of Sant Ravidas, a revered figure for Scheduled Castes, and had addressed a public meeting in Sagar.

Bundelkhand, in north east MP, has six Assembly seats reserved for SCs, and the Bharatiya Janata Party had won five of them in the 2018 state polls, namely Bina, Naryoli, Jatara, Chandala and Hatta, while the Congress managed to get Gunnor.

Bundelkhand comprises Sagar, Chattarpur, Tikamgarh, Nimari, Damoh and Panna districts, with 26 Assembly seats, of which 15 were won by the BJP in the last state polls, while the Congress got nine and and one each was won by Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party.

In Sagar district, BJP had won six out of eight seats, leaving the Congress with just two wins.

As per the 2011 Census, the population of Dalits in MP was 1.13 crore.

In the 2018 polls, BJP won 18 of the 35 seats reserved for SCs in MP, while the Congress got 17, which was 13 more than what it won in the 2013 polls.

With an eye on Dalit votes, the BJP government in MP built a temple of Sant Ravidas in Maihar town in Satna, part of the Vindh region that shares a border with Uttar Pradesh.

The Congress-led UPA government, which ruled at the Centre from 2004 to 2014, had announced a Rs 8,000 crore package for Bundelkhand.

In the 2018 polls, the Congress formed a coalition government under Kamal Nath after winning 114 seats in the 230-member House. The BJP lost power after managing to win just 109 seats.

However, a rebellion by MLAs loyal to Jyotiraditya Scindia brought down the Kamal Nath government in March 2020 and got the BJP back to power under Shivraj Singh Chouhan.