Last Update: July 21, 2023, 7:26 PM IST
Chouhan said opposition leaders who have been abusing Modi are worried about his popularity and that is why they have come together. (File Photo/PTI)
He claimed that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, a prominent leader of the anti-BJP faction, has opposed the name ‘India’ for the alliance, while his ally RJD president Lalu Prasad Yadav is pulling in a different direction.
Taking a dig at opposition unity, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday said the flood of support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi has forced “tainted” parties to come together against the BJP. Chouhan said the recently formed opposition bloc ‘India’ (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) has failed to decide on a common face that will lead the 26-party grouping announced in Bengaluru earlier this week.
The BJP leader mocked the anti-BJP parties regarding the new alliance. Those who are tainted have come together and sit on a tree to watch the flood of support for the Prime Minister but the ‘groom’ (groom – a reference to Block’s face) has not yet been decided, and the ‘fufa’ (father’s sister’s husband) is angered. Reacting to the opposition unity move, Chouhan said, “Don’t know what will happen in the coming days.”
He claimed that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, a prominent leader of the anti-BJP faction, has opposed the name “India” for the alliance, while his ally RJD president Lalu Prasad Yadav is pulling in a different direction. Chouhan said opposition leaders who have been abusing Modi are worried about his popularity and that is why they have come together.
The CM said, “They know that if he (Modi) remains in power, their (India’s leaders) corruption will be exposed and they will not be spared.” Referring to Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s one-day visit to Madhya Pradesh on Friday, Chouhan said people should remember that before 2003 the condition of roads and availability of electricity was poor in the state, where assembly elections are due later this year.
He alleged that the Congress did not fulfill its promises of farm loan waiver, unemployment allowance and bonus to farmers during its long rule. Chouhan said the previous Congress government (in office from December 2018 to March 2020) stopped her welfare programmes, which included Rs 1,000 assistance to tribal women, laptops to girls who score well in exams, pilgrimage schemes and did not act on these either. PM Awas Yojana and Jal Jeevan Mission.
The Chief Minister said that Madhya Pradesh has developed rapidly under the BJP rule as its per capita income has increased from Rs 11,000 earlier to Rs 1.40 lakh. The saffron party has been ruling the state since 2003 except for 15 months from 2018-2020 when the Congress was in power.
The size of GSDP (Gross State Domestic Product) has increased from Rs 71,000 crore earlier to Rs 15 lakh crore now, he said. Reacting to a video that has emerged from violence-hit Manipur in which two women are being paraded naked, Chouhan said the incident was unfortunate and heart-wrenching. The BJP leader said, the whole country wants that the people involved in this incident should be punished severely.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI,
