The reason the Congress is so desperate to form the government in Madhya Pradesh is because it wants to use the State as its ATM for the 2024 Lok Sabha election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in the poll-bound State’s Khandwa district on Sunday.
Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) looks to retain power in the State, Mr. Modi said that the party would form the government at the Centre for the third time.
“But to pace up the development in M.P., I don’t need a speed-breaker here. I don’t need a government which hits breaks or is in reverse gear, but a sharp and fast BJP government,” he said, addressing his third poll rally in two days. The PM also addressed a rally in Seoni district earlier in the day.
‘Greedy eyes’
“The Congress’ intent is clear. It wants to make M.P. its ATM for the Lok Sabha elections. It wants to loot M.P. filled with tractors. Do we have to give them that chance?” he asked the crowd.
The Prime Minister claimed that since the Congress had been out of power at the Centre for about 10 years, it was now looking at every State with “greedy eyes”.
“Wherever the Congress has formed a government by mistake, a competition of looting goes on — whether the Chief Minister will loot more or the Deputy CM. You keep hearing about Karnataka, right?” Mr. Modi said, in an attack on Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah and his deputy D.K. Shivakumar.
‘Criminal rule’
Referring to the infamous beheading of a tailor, Kanhaiya Lal, in Rajasthan’s Udaipur last June, Mr. Modi alleged that criminals “rule” wherever the Congress is in power.
“We had never imagined that in India, someone could behead a person and celebrate it with pride. But it happened in Congress-ruled Rajasthan. This is why M.P. will have to beware of this,” he said.
The Prime Minister also targeted the State’s first-time voters, telling them to learn about the Congress rule in the State before 2003 from their elders.
“I will make a special request to the first-time voters and the youth. You have to be alert because you have not seen their regime and don’t know about their dangerous game,” he said, adding that the youth must vote not just for the next five years, but for their future over the next 25 years.
‘Poor are the biggest caste’
In an apparent attack against the Congress promise to conduct a caste-based survey in the State if it comes to power, the PM accused it of conspiring to divide the society.
“M.P. people will have to stay united to stop the Congress. People benefit by the schemes of the BJP government without any discrimination, because for Modi, the poor of the nation is the biggest caste,” he claimed.
Eyeing the dominant tribal voters of M.P.’s Malwa-Nimar region, Mr. Modi said that the previous Congress-led government at the Centre had declared 100 districts in the country as backward and that most of them were remote tribal-dominated districts.
Aspirational district
“Khandwa was one of them. I could not do that sin. We made it an aspirational district and pressed for its development. I monitor such districts, including Khandwa, personally from Delhi,” he said.
He claimed that Khandwa is now known as the country’s electricity centre. “Asia’s first 600 megawatt floating solar power plant will add to your glory,” he told the crowd.
Madhya Pradesh is among the five States that are going to polls this month. Voting in the State will take place on November 17, while the counting will be done on December 3.
