By L.S. Herdenia
BHOPAL: Former BJP chief minister
Babulal Gaur, who had stirred a controversy last week by disclosing that he has
been offered a Lok Sabha ticket by Congress and he may even consider the offer,
has been silenced by the central leadership of the party. Gaur was summoned to
the party headquarters by none less than national general secretary Ram Lal and
asked to keep quiet and follow the party line.
Gaur was summoned in the midst
of a high level party meeting to discuss issues relating to forthcoming Lok
Sabha elections.
After a 45-minute interaction
with Ram Lal, Gaur declared that he had no grudges against the party and would
remain with the BJP all his life. “I met Ram Lalji and had a discussion
for almost 45 minutes with him at the party office. I have no complaints
against any leader or the party whatsoever. I will remain with the BJP and
would not join any other party,” Gaur told reporters.
A day after disclosing the
Congress offer, the BJP veteran had attacked the party leadership saying it
ignored senior leaders, which led to its defeat in the assembly elections. The
BJP veteran was also in the limelight for inviting Congress leaders to his
official residence.
In order to display the change
in his attitude he wrote a letter to chief minister Kamal Nath protesting
against the irregularities in the farm loan wavier scheme.
Alarmed by an adverse feedback
report on more than a dozen sitting MPs, the BJP in Madhya Pradesh has decided
to highlight reservation for upper castes and Ram Janmabhoomi temple issue in
order to retain the 27 seats it won in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
The meeting on Wednesday decided
to publicise decisions taken by the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre and
welfare programmes launched for the poor and marginalised classes. General
secretary Ram Lal and Anil Jain discussed their agenda with the state office
bearers and cadres and claimed that they will retain all the 27 seats in the
upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
“We will retain all the seats
in MP for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. As far as the Ram temple issue is
concerned, it’s a matter of faith for the BJP and we would raise the demand for
allotment of the undisputed land at the holy site”, Jain told reporters after
the meeting.
The meeting was also marked by
sharp exchanges between Gopal Bhargava, leader of opposition, and former chief
minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Bhargava in his speech said that the defeat of
the party in the assembly polls had put party workers into depression. Bhargava
said if the political campaign for Lok Sabha polls was carried out effectively then
the party would win.
On the other hand, Chouhan
refuted the statement of Bhargava saying that the party workers were excited
and ready to avenge the defeat in the assembly polls. Chouhan said people were sure
that the BJP would form its government and they intentionally gave vote to other
party candidate at many places believing that it would not matter. Chouhan said
such people are repenting their act.
With a view to bettering the Congress
position in the coming Lok Sabha polls, Chief Minister Kamal Nath announced
several populist schemes. Talking to media after completion of one month in
office, Kamal Nath announced schemes for youth, farmers and industrialists.
About jobs for youth he referred to the employment scheme for rural youth –
Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Guarantee Scheme – but said there was nothing
for the urban youth. He announced a new scheme for the urban youth entitled Yuva
Swabhiman Rozgar Yojana under which 100 days of job, including a component of
training is assured. The chief minister said the scheme would be launched on February
25.
About industrialisation he
said there was need to have investment incentives that are specific to an
industry or location. For instance, investment on nano technology would require
a different type of incentive, and a different one for real estate. “Incentive
must be tailor made to investment and it has to be linked with jobs. If someone
says that he will invest Rs. 1,000 crore but give jobs to 100-200 people, it
would be less attractive than someone who says he is going to employ 1,000-2,000
people. So, incentives are to be linked with employment and that is the kind of
incentive I am looking at,” Kamal Nath pointed out.
He said he had been working on
the farm loan waiver for the last six months. “You see, 80% of loans are
from nationalised banks while 20% are from cooperative banks. For the
cooperative loans, we will inject capital. As far as nationalised banks are
concerned, if the banks can write off loans given to industrialists they should
also be writing off 50% loans of farmers; the state government will take care
of the remaining 50%,” the chief minister disclosed.(IPA Service)
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