Senior BJP leader L.K. Advani on Saturday showed Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi his place by raising Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s stature and comparing him with former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.
Addressing a huge convention of polling booth level convenors of the BJP in Gwalior, Mr Advani said that Gujarat was already a developed state when Mr Modi became the chief minister of the state. He gave credit to Mr Modi for doing “good work” but also emphasised that Madhya Pradesh was a BIMARU state when Mr Chouhan took over as chief minister and he deserves credit for putting the state on the fast-track of development, Mr Advani said.
Recalling different qualities and traits associated with former Prime Ministers, he said, Mr Vajpayee is known for his humility, a quality that he also sees in Mr Chouhan, who has not allowed arrogance to touch him and is very polite and soft-spoken. The BJP leader especially praised Mr Chouhan for launching the Teerth Darshan Yojna for senior citizens and Ladli Laxmi Yojna for the benefit of the girl child.
Addressing party workers, BJP national general secretary incharge Madhya Pradesh affairs Ananth Kumar said that time has come for BJP workers to devote themselves to “Mission 2013” by going to the people to inform them about the state government’s achievements on the development front and expose the Congress for its failures at the polling booth level. He said that under the leadership of chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the state has been accepted as a development model all over the country. He went on to express the confidence that the BJP will form its government for the third time in a row in MP under Mr Chouhan’s leadership.
Speaking on the occasion, senior BJP leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya sabha Arun Jaitley said that Madhya Pradesh, along with many other states, were called BIMARU states due to their extreme backwardness but the BJP governments in the states and the NDA government at the Centre removed this tag by changing the entire economic scenario. He described Mr Chouhan as a revolutionary chief minister who has changed the state’s destiny.