Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday stepped up the attack on the Congress government in poll-bound Chhattisgarh, saying that it was mired in corruption and was biased against the Dalits, tribals and backward classes.
Addressing the concluding function of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) ‘Parivartan Yatra’ in Bilaspur, Modi said there were financial irregularities in every scheme implemented by the chief minister Bhupesh Baghel-led government.
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“Chhattisgarh is steeped in corruption and misrule. There is a scam in every scheme in the state… [it] did not even spare cow dung and committed corruption in the name of gau mata (cow),” the PM said as he targeted the state government over alleged scams in the schemes related to cow dung procurement, ration distribution, liquor trade, Public Service Commission (PSC) recruitment and District Mineral Foundation (DMF) fund utilisation.
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Chhattisgarh is one of the five state that are set to go to polls this year.
Modi said BJP was committed to the development of Chhattisgarh but the state government was not letting the benefits of the central schemes reach the people of the state.
“No matter how much I try from Delhi to ensure that development reaches you, the Congress government here keeps trying to disrupt it. In the last five years, Chhattisgarh has received thousands of crores of rupees from the Centre for development works.,” he said.
During his address, the PM hinted at there being unease in the state Congress unit.
“There is no shortage of money for the state, and I am not saying this but deputy chief minister (TS Singh Deo) has said this in a public programme. After Singh Deo spoke the truth, it created a storm in the Congress and the party leaders started targeting him,” he said.
In Septermber, Singh Deo shared the stage with Modi at a function in Raigad, and said the central government never denied help to Chhattisgarh. He later apologised at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting in Hyderabad for his statement, but party president Mallikarjun Kharge said that his apology won’t undo the mistake, party leaders familiar with the matter had said.
Modi also alluded to his Other Backward Class (OBC) background to attack the Congress.
“They abuse the backward class on the pretext of targeting Modi. They (Congress) hate Dalit, poor, tribals and OBCs. Even after being punished by the court, they continued with the same attitude,” he said in a swipe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi who was held guilty by Gujarat court in a defamation case over his ‘Modi surname’ remark. His conviction was later stayed by the Supreme Court.
Congress spokesperson Sushil Anand Shukla said that Modi should talk about what work he has done in his 9-year tenure as the PM instead of targeting the Congress.
“Instead of blaming the Congress government , he should talk about his achievements. He and his party have not delivered any of the things that were promised to the people,” he said.
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