Bhopal: CPI contestant from Begusarai in Bihar, Kanhaiya Kumar would be campaigning for Congress' Bhopal nominee Digvijaya Singh, who is pitted against Hindutva leader Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur of the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh.

Addressing a gathering at the CPI office here, Singh called himself an "admirer" of the former JNUSU president and said that he was happy that Kumar would campaign for him on May 8-9. Singh also sought to dispel the perception that Kumar's arrival might rake up "Tukde-Tukde" controversy in the poll season, as Thakur is viewed as a polarising figure. He blamed the BJP and the RSS for "defaming" Kumar in the 2016 Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) sloganeering controversy.