By L S Herdenia
BHOPAL: The appointment of Jyotiraditya
Scindia and Priyanka Gandhi as Congress general secretaries has been welcomed
by the leaders and common Congress men of Madhya Pradesh. Many party leaders
have expressed the hope that besides UP, Priyanka will also tour Madhya
Pradesh. They hope that her visits will boost the morale of the party men. As
for Scindia’s appointment, it is being viewed as an attempt to keep him away
from the state’s affairs. Scindia has high stakes in the politics of Madhya Pradesh.
If he is kept away, it may give Kamal Nath a free hand while grappling with the
manifold problems of the state.
Meanwhile two events – one
face to face meeting between Scindia and former chief minister and Shivraj
Singh Chouhan – and Congress’s offer to former BJP chief minister Babulal Gaur
to contest Lok Sabha elections on the Congress ticket – hit the headlines.
Scindia and Chouhan both described their meeting as courtesy call but
newspapers have interpreted it differently.
As far as the Congress offer
to Babulal Gaur is concerned, the veteran BJP leader admitted that such an
offer has been made. He, however, added that his party leaders were not happy
while giving ticket to his daughter-in-law Krishna Gaur. Krishna Gaur, however,
won from the same constituency which Gaur has been representing since 1974.
Commenting on the offer, BJP
state president Rakesh Singh said that Congress was left with no leaders to
contest elections and so it is eyeing BJP leaders and offering them to contest
LS polls on their ticket. Digvijaya may have made an offer but Gaur never said
he accepted it, said the BJP state chief.
Meanwhile, Shivraj Singh
Chouhan said he does not believe in what he hears from others. “Digvijaya’s
offer to Gaur has evoked excitement in the Congress leaders as the party does
not have a strong candidate from Bhopal. It was in 1984 that the Congress last
tasted victory in the Bhopal Lok Sabha seat. Congress leaders, considering
their series of defeats, see Gaur as a winning candidate and are thus favouring
his candidature from Bhopal” he added.
Former minister Sartaj Singh,
who quit BJP and joined Congress, has also welcomed the proposal asking Gaur to
contest on the Congress ticket. Gaur is an active leader and enjoys public
support, said Singh adding that BJP made a huge mistake in overlooking a leader
like Gaur.
The murder of three BJP
leaders has given the opportunity to BJP leaders to launch a blistering attack
on the government. BJP leaders have alleged that there was total breakdown of
law and order in the state. Refuting the charge, the Congress leaders have
claimed that these murders have been committed by party rivals. former chief minister
Digvijaya Singh has asserted that financial transactions are the motive behind
these crimes.
Shivraj Singh Chouhan has
mounted an attack on the government. Besides breakdown of law and order, he has
chosen several other issues to launch the attack. Chouhan has entered into the
mode of direct confrontation with the government and begun to communicate with
the beneficiaries of Sambal Yojana under Sambal samvad. He said that he had
waived off electricity bills when he was CM and had capped the electricity
bills to Rs. 200 per month. He said people should not pay if they get
electricity bills of excess amount.
Chouhan said he would get
water and power connections of poor restored through sangharsh samitis which
would be constituted in each locality. The samitis would also fight against the
deficiencies in benefits of schemes made for the poor. He asserted that poor people
are getting water connection bills of Rs. 500 which is beyond their paying
capacity and that it was the duty of the government to continue with the
schemes made by BJP government for the welfare of the poor.(IPA Service)
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