Chhattisgarh under ‘grahan’ for 5 yrs, time has come to remove it: Nadda targets Cong

PTI, Oct 29, 2023, 3:49 PM IST

BJP president JP Nadda on Sunday accused the Chhattisgarh Congress government of ignoring the people’s welfare, and claimed the state has been under a ”grahan” (eclipse) for five years and that time has now come to remove it.

Addressing a rally in Dongargarh assembly constituency of the poll-bound state, Nadda claimed the Congress always thought about itself or ”its family” and not about the welfare of people.

He said people will have to decide whether they want to choose a government which serves itself or the one which serves the masses.

Targeting the Bhupesh Baghel government in Chhattisgarh over ”corruption”, Nadda said, “There was a Chandra Grahan (lunar eclipse) on Saturday. Chhattisgarh has been under grahan for five years and an opportunity has come to remove it.” Dongargarh is among the 20 assembly constituencies which will go to polls in the first phase of elections to the 90-member state assembly. Voting in the remaining 70 seats will be held in the second phase on November 17. Nadda said he is fortunate that he kicked off his first election rally in Chhattisgarh from the holy land of Maa Bamleshwari.

Dongargarh, a popular pilgrimage spot, is famous for the Maa Bamleshwari Devi hilltop temple.

“Not a single brick or stone of development was laid by the Congress in Chhattisgarh, but I can say confidently that the BJP can claim its role in every single brick of growth in the state,” Nadda said.

“The Congress never thought about the people as it only thought about itself and its family,” he claimed.

There was a long chain of chief ministers from the Congress (in the then undivided Madhya Pradesh) — Arjun Singh, Motilal Vora and Shyama Charan Shukla — and a long chain of prime ministers (in previous Congress government at Centre), but Bharat Ratna recipient and former prime minister late Atal Bihari Vajpayee gave Chhattisgarh its name, he said.

”They ruled here but never thought about Chhattisgarh and it was Vajpayee ji who thought about the people of Chhattisgarh,” Nadda said.

Chhattisgarh state was formed in 2000 after being carved out of Madhya Pradesh during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government at the Centre.

Listing various ”scams” under the Baghel-led regime, the BJP president asked the gathering, ”Is this government corrupt or not? Does this government have the right to remain in power?” He appealed to the people to support Vinod Khandekar, the BJP’s candidate from Dongargarh seat, and elect the party to power in the state.