The fight between two Congress leaders is not for the Chief Minister’s chair but to push their respective sons, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh’s Ratlam, in an apparent attack on State Congress chief Kamal Nath and former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh.
“There is a competition between two Congress leaders to tear each other’s clothes. And this is just the trailer, if they get a chance, they will also tear your clothes,” Mr. Modi said, referring to the “tear cloth” row that erupted between Mr. Singh and Mr. Nath in the State in October.
“Their fight is not for the CM’s chair because they know that they are not going to win in M.P. This cloth-tearing tussle that is going on between them is about whose son will get a chance ahead and will capture the Madhya Pradesh Congress,” the PM said on his fourth visit in a month to the State that goes to polls in less than 15 days.
Mr. Modi said the Congress’ “dialogues and promises are filmy”. “When the characters are filmy, the scene will also be filmy,” he added.
He said that the Congress did not have a solid roadmap for development, and that the party was not capable of thinking for the long-term. “The Congress is only left with a hooter of false promises,” Mr. Modi said.
He also claimed the Congress had placed the neighbouring Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan in a “bad state”.
He reiterated that the the Central government’s Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, under which free ration is provided to about 80 crore poor people every month, would be extended for five years after its expiry in December.
“Here in our M.P., when you remember sisters, you automatically remember ‘mama’ (maternal uncle),” Mr. Modi said while listing out several Central and State governments’ women-centric schemes, including the Women’s Reservation Act and the Ladli Behna Yojana. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is fondly addressed as ‘mama’ by his supporters, especially women.
He also alleged that the Congress had never worked for the empowerment of tribals.
“Congress is a party that cannot think beyond one family. That’s why they never worked for the true empowerment of the tribals. The Congress strongly opposed the first tribal woman President of India [Draupadi Murmu], and by fielding an ex-BJP leader against her, the Congress showed what limits it can go to stop an Adivasi daughter,” he said, while claiming that the BJP prioritised tribal causes.
Going to the polls on November 17, Madhya Pradesh has a sizeable population of tribal communities, which account for more than 21% of the State’s total population. The State has 47 out of its 230 Assembly seats reserved for the Scheduled Tribes (STs). The Malwa-Nimar region of the State, under which Ratlam district falls, alone has 22 ST reserved seats.
The region, which has long been a BJP stronghold, produced huge gains for the Congress in 2018, with the party winning 35 out of its 66 seats, whereas it had only won nine seats in 2013. The BJP’s tally from 57 in 2013 had dipped to 28 in 2018.
While the BJP looks to regain its lost ground in the region and among tribal voters, the Congress plans on solidifying on its previous poll performance, even as both parties try to woo tribal voters by paying tribute to various historical figures, and making several promises.
