Ujjain: Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan launched his ‘Jan Ashirwad Yatra’ from Ujjain on Saturday with a scathing attack on the Congress.
The rally, which was flagged off by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah, saw Chouhan list the achievements of his government vis-à-vis the performance of the previous Congress regime.
Taking a potshot at former chief minister Digvijaya Singh, Chouhan addressed him as ‘Sriman Bantadhar’ for his alleged failures, especially on the infrastructure front, during the 10-year rule from 1993.
The chief minister accused the Congress of promoting the tradition of dynasties and claimed that the BJP had an inspiring and effective leader in Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Chouhan mocked Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s prime ministerial ambitions and said: “He (Gandhi) recently came to Mandsaur to talk about farmers. But he hardly knows how chilli grows on the plant and has no idea whether onion grows above the ground or below it.”
Attacking the Congress over its rampant factionalism, he said there was no clarity on who the commander of opposition was. “In the Congress, whenever anyone talks about leadership, 25 of them stand up and forward their candidature.”
Chouhan, who is seeking a fourth term in power, underlined his government’s achievements such as better roads, improved power and water supply, farm loan sanction and food production among others. The chief minister plans to visit 51 districts and cover a distance of 11,000km as part of the yatra.
The BJP chief too expressed confidence that the party would form the next government in the state in 2018 and at the Centre in 2019. Shah said, “Sensing the public mood, I have no inhibitions in saying the ‘Jan Ashirwad Yatra’ will convert into a ‘Vijay Yatra’.”
Shah also took a dig at the Congress, saying the grand old party wanted to return to power through two ‘rajas’ [kings] (Jyotiraditya Scindia and Digvijaya Singh) and one ‘dhanpati’ [millionaire] (Kamal Nath) but did not know that a farmer’s son (Chouhan) would form the next government.
He also dared senior Congress leaders to present details of the achievements of their 10-year rule. “The UPA, through the 13th Finance Commission, had allotted Rs 1.34 lakh crore to Madhya Pradesh, while the state got Rs 3.44 lakh crore under the Modi government,” Shah said.
Earlier in the day, both Chouhan and Shah visited the Mahakal temple to seek blessings.
Commenting on the yatra, Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president Kamal Nath said the party would prepare a counter strategy. He also advised Chouhan to take out a maafi (apology) yatra to seek forgiveness for his misrule as “the public had realised their mistake in giving him power”.
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