Countering Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address to BJP workers in Bhopal on September 25, the Congress party said Mr. Modi had not been able to showcase even one scheme of the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government, which has been in power for 18 years. The Opposition party alleged Mr. Chouhan’s government was mired in “scams and corruption”.
All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary in-charge of Madhya Pradesh, Randeep Surjewala, also responded to Mr. Modi’s jibe that the Congress had outsourced its functioning to “urban Naxals”.
Explained | What will hold up women’s reservation Bill?
“The Shivraj Singh government, in connivance with contractors, has sacrificed the future of Madhya Pradesh at the altar of corruption,” Mr. Surjewala told reporters at a press conference.
The Congress leader claimed that Mr. Modi had washed his hands of Mr. Chouhan. “The Prime Minister didn’t even name even one scheme of the government that has been in power for 18 years. It is clear that he wants to avoid Shivraj government,” Mr. Surjewala said.
Quoting the Prime Minister from his statement that first-time voters in the State had seen growth and development, the Congress leader said the youth had seen the Vyapam scam or corruption allegations in the body that holds 23 professional exams; witnessed the sight of question papers for recruiting patwaris (revenue officials) being sold at ₹15 lakh; and unemployment of 70 lakh youth in the 18 to 23 years age group.
Further, he said the state of education has been so poor in Madhya Pradesh that 26,000 government schools did not have electricity; 29,000 schools had been shut down; and about nine lakh students had been struck off from the enrolment list. “In 18 years, there have been 19,000 cases of unemployed [youth] and students dying by suicide,” Mr. Surjewala claimed.
The Congress leader also claimed that of the 82 lakh women beneficiaries of the Ujjwala scheme, which provides free LPG gas connection for cooking, as many 44 lakh women did not refill their cylinders. He also made a scathing attack on the Prime Minister for praising the Ayushman Bharat scheme. “I wish he had read the C&AG [Comptroller and Auditor General’s report] that said during COVID, the Shivraj government had treated even the dead,” Mr. Surjewala said.
Mr. Surjewala also drew attention to what he claimed was “declining incomes for farmers in the State and growing issue of crimes against Dalits and tribals”.
And on a day when Mr. Modi cast aspersions on the Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) with regard to the women’s reservation Bill, the Congress not only on held a press conferences across 21 cities but Mr. Surjewala dared the Prime Minister to provide a date for the implementation of women’s reservation in the Legislature.
“Nothing is going to be given in the next 10 years and it [women’s reservation] seems like aniother jumla [empty rhetoric]....I would like to ask for a date when it would be implemented. Will it be 2026, 2029 or 2035?” Mr. Surjewala asked.
