Chhattisgarh Polls: Nadda Targets Congress Over Graft, Says Time to Rid State of ‘Grahan’ of 5 Yearsnewsbhunt

BJP President JP Nadda on Sunday accused the Congress government in Chhattisgarh of ignoring the welfare of people and corruption, saying the time has come to free the state from the five-year-old ”grahan” (eclipse). Addressing a rally in Telkadih village under the Dongargarh assembly constituency in the poll-bound state, Nadda claimed the Congress always thought about itself or ”its family” and not about the welfare of people. He said the people will have to decide whether they want to choose a government which serves itself or one which serves the masses.

Targeting the Bhupesh Baghel government over ”corruption”, Nadda said, “There was a chandra grahan (lunar eclipse) on Saturday. Chhattisgarh has been under the grahan for five years and an opportunity has come to rid it of the grahan.” The BJP chief said he was fortunate to have kicked off his first election rally in the state from the holy land of Maa Bamleshwari. Dongargarh, a popular pilgrimage spot, is famous for the Maa Bamleshwari Devi hilltop temple.

Not a single brick or stone of development was laid by the Congress government in Chhattisgarh (in the last five years), but I am confident that BJP can claim its role in every single brick of growth in the state, Nadda said. ”There was a long chain of chief ministers from the Congress (in the then undivided Madhya Pradesh) — Arjun Singh, Motilal Vora and Shyama Charan Shukla — and a long chain of prime ministers (in previous Congress government at Centre), but it was Bharat Ratna recipient and former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who gave Chhattisgarh its name,” he said.

They ruled here but never thought about Chhattisgarh and it was Vajpayee ji who thought about the people of Chhattisgarh, Nadda said. Chhattisgarh was carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000 when the Vajpayee government was in power at the Centre.

Listing various ”scams” under the Baghel-led regime, the BJP president asked the gathering, ”Is this government corrupt or not? Does this government have the right to remain in power?” ”If you want to choose a government that serves the people then vote for the BJP and if (you want) a government that serves the corrupt Baghel dispensation, then vote for Congress,” he said. The BJP chief appealed to the masses to support Vinod Khandekar, the BJP’s candidate from the Dongargarh seat, and elect the party to power.

Addressing another rally in the Pandariya assembly segment, the BJP president said leaders and workers of the saffron party live to serve people ”but in Congress, they live to serve themselves”. There is a difference between the governments of the BJP and Congress. PM Modi ji had promised to build 4 crore houses (under PM Awas Yojna), out of which 3.50 crore houses have been constructed. The Centre had sanctioned 14.80 lakh houses for Chhattisgarh but Bhupesh Babu did not allow 12 lakh houses to be constructed, he said at both rallies.

He highlighted the Jal Jeevan Mission and Ujjawala Yojna among other schemes being implemented by the Centre. ”Modi ji has brought 13.5 crore people out of poverty. The number of very poor people in India has declined to less than 1 per cent. Modi ji inaugurated the Nagarnar steel plant (recently) in Bastar which will create employment opportunities for 50,000 people in the region,” Nadda said. The BJP has fielded Bhawna Bohra, chairperson of Kabirdham Zila Panchayat and secretary of the party’s state women wing, from Pandariya.

Earlier, Nadda led road shows in Khairagarh, Chhuikhadan and Gandai towns. Dongargarh, Pandariya and Khairagarh are among the 20 assembly constituencies which will go to polls in the first phase of elections on November 7. Voting for the remaining 70 seats will be held in the second phase on November 17.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)