A battle of wits is currently raging between the ruling BJP and its arch rival Congress in Madhya Pradesh at a time when the ruling party cadres are busy making preparations to celebrate the completion of five years in office by chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on November 29.
While the Madhya Pradesh BJP leaders are viewing Mr Chouhan’s achievement as an important milestone in state politics, especially from their own point of view since he is the first BJP chief minister to complete five years in office, the Congress legislators and leaders have an entirely different take on the chief minister. Earlier this week, the Congress MLAs had repeatedly stalled the Assembly proceedings on the issue of corruption. They even forced the Speaker to cut short the Winter Session and adjourn the House sine die on Thursday. Two days later, it was state Congress president Suresh Pachouri’s turn to take potshots at the ruling BJP and the chief minister.
Addressing a press conference at the state Congress headquarters here on Saturday, Mr Pachouri questioned the logic behind celebrating the completion of five years in office by chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan as a “day of pride” by the state BJP. He said there is nothing to celebrate when the state is at the rock bottom when it comes to communal flareups and riots, atrocities against tribals and women, malnutrition, infant mortality, and percentage of those living below poverty line. Corruption is also at its peak in Madhya Pradesh, said Mr Pachouri.
On the issue of tribals, the state Congress chief said that the chief minister has been leading the “yatra” (campaign) to protect the rights of the tribals but the fact remains that 2.53 lakh of the 4 lakh applications received from tribals for obtaining land ownership certificates have been rejected by the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government. The farmers are suffering due to shortage of water, power, and fertiliser.
The government is also in the dock on the issue of waiver of rural loans and the promise to disburse loans to farmers at 3 per cent interest, Mr Pachouri pointed out.
Mr Pachouri alleged massive corruption in mining, allotment of land and also chose to rake up the dumper scam involving the chief minister. He said that an FIR was registered and the Special Police Establishment of the Lokayukta began investigating the case in November 2007. Pointing towards the “inordinate” delay in investigation, he said that the chief minister should refer this case to the CBI. He further said that they would be requesting the state governor to ask the Lokayukta to submit a report in this regard.