BHOPAL: The ‘urban Maoist’ controversy has heightened political tension in pollbound Madhya Pradesh, with chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan urging Congress to expel him for “Maoist connections”, and Digvijaya hitting back by daring the government to arrest him.Retweeting social media posts on Digvijaya’s contact number being found in a letter seized from one of the “urban Maoists”, Chouhan said: “Reports of senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh’s nexus with Maoists is a matter of concern. Earlier, too, he had made irresponsible statements on the matter and there were allegations of anti-national activities against him. Congress should immediately take action and sack him from the party.”“The real face of Congress and its leaders has been exposed. Nexus with those trying to divide the country! What could be more shameful? Betraying motherland to help one family retain power. India will not tolerate this,” he tweeted.Digvijaya responded with equal aggression, saying: “If I have such connections, then the government should arrest me now. I challenge the Union and state governments that if I am involved, they should start the arrest proceedings immediately.”Speaking to reporters in Satna, he remarked: “First, the chief minister called me a ‘deshdrohi’, and now this.” Koregaon was not a Naxalite movement, he said. “It was a fight between Dalits and Marathas over reservation. There was no Maoist anywhere. My mobile number is with a lot of people. Those who have been arrested include social activists like Sudha Bharadwaj , who was educated in the US. She gave up her US citizenship at the age of 18, when there are many people who crave for American citizenship,” Digvijaya argued.“Sudha Bharadwaj fought a war for labourers. She pursued a law degree from Raipur and is now being accused of hatching a plot to kill Narendra Modi. This is that model of governance by which fake encounters occurred in Gujarat, claiming a conspiracy to kill Narendra Modi ,”Digvijaya added. The Maoist controversy has only intensified the verbal duel between the former and current CM in poll-boundMP. A few days ago, the CM had called Digvijaya an “anti-national.” In retaliation, Digvijaya presented himself before Bhopal police a week later and dared them to arrest him if they had any proof of his “anti-national activities”. After getting a clean chit from police, he said: “I have a letter from the police that there is no case of treason against me. I am going to drag Chouhan to court for calling me a traitor.”