Arjun Singh's daughter to contest as independent

New Delhi, April 4 (IANS) Denied a Congress ticket for the Lok Sabha elections, central minister Arjun Singh's daughter Veena Singh Saturday filed her nomination papers from Madhya Pradesh's Sidhi constituency as an independent.

Accompanied by her husband V.P. Singh, alias Raja Baba, and a handful of Congress workers, Veena Singh went to the district returning officer and filed her papers.

Arjun Singh wanted the party ticket for his son Ajay Singh as well as daughter Veena Singh for the Lok Sabha elections. While Ajay Singh, a legislator from Churhat, was keen to contest from Satna, Veena Singh wanted to contest from Sidhi as a Congress candidate.

Instead, the Congress leadership decided to field the veteran leader's loyalist Indirajeet Patel from Sidhi and Ajay Singh's confidante Sudhir Singh Tomar from Satna.

Sidhi has been converted from a reserved seat to the general category after delimitation.

Maintaining that it was the party's prerogative to select candidates, Arjun Singh said: 'I will campaign for the Congress nominees in both Satna and Sidhi.'

He, however, added: 'If I say I am not unhappy, then it will not be true.'