CM completes 12 years on Wednesday, Opposition greets him with salvo
Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will complete 12 years in office on November 29 but questions are being raised within BJP about his charisma in wake of recent losses in assembly by-polls
Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will complete 12 years in office on November 29 but questions are being raised within BJP about his charisma in wake of recent losses in assembly by-polls.
Elections in Madhya Pradesh will take place in November-December 2018.
The CM is upbeat since he got a ‘clean chit’ by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in recently filed charge-sheets in the Vyapam scam.
CM Chouhan was in dock since Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh filed a petition in the high court and later in the Supreme Court on the basis of a pen drive provided to him by a whistleblower as a ‘corroborative evidence’ against the CM. However, the CBI has not found any evidence so far against the CM.
Before Vyapam, Chouhan, who replaced senior Babulal Gaur as chief minister in the face of rebellion by former chief minister Uma Bharti on November 29, 2005, was once accused of being involved in a dumper scandal, along with his wife. But they were absolved from the court.
Despite these charges, Chouhan led the party to victory in 2008 and 2013 assembly elections and the party also performed well in 2009 and 2014 Lok Sabha polls from the state.
During his visit to Bhopal in August the BJP national president Amit Shah announced the party would contest in 2018 assembly elections and 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh under Chouhan’s leadership.
However, the BJP’s loss in certain by-polls like Ater and Chitrakoot has also led to questions being raised against his leadership within the party, though in a hushed tone. Leaders and party workers have started discussing in the party circles if his charisma is on wane as the party faced defeat in Ater and Chitrakoot assembly seats bypolls within a span of 7 months. This was despite his intensive election campaign and announcements for development projects worth hundreds of crores during the by-polls.
Of late, he is also facing anger from farmers, his constituents till farmers agitation in June which saw five farmers being killed in a police firing in Mandsaur. His first of its kind scheme in the country Bhavantar meant for providing some amount of money to farmers in case they sell their agriculture produce below the minimum support price (MSP) seems to have boomeranged on the government.
Senior Congress leader Kamal Nath has posed 12 questions to the CM by writing a letter to him and raising a question against his leadership in the past 12 years.
Kamal Nath has asked why MP continues to remain on the top in the country when it comes to farmers suicide despite the fact that state has earned 5 Krishi Karman award; why MP reports highest number of crimes against women in the country and women feel unsafe even in the day time; why MP’s 8 districts figure in the list of most backward 115 districts of the country, which include Vidisha and Khandwa being represented by union external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and state BJP president Nandkumar Singh Chauhan.
State BJP spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal said Congress had put a blinker on its face and it didn’t want to see the development in the state done under the leadership of chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. The BJP would retain power under his leadership in 2018 assembly elections too, thanks to the development works.