It was ‘vote prem’ of Rahul: CM

Bhopal, Apr 16: Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan termed the gesture of Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi towards dalits, as 'vote prem' (love for votes). He said that the Congress should have taken care of providing relief to the drought affected people of Bundelkhand.

Chouhan was talking to media persons here on Wednesday. He said that if sleeping at a Dalit's hut for a night could have changed the fortune of Dalits, he could have done it every night but the fact is that it is not love for dalits, but love for votes which has propelled Rahul Gandhi to opt for such gimmicks. Chouhan alleged that Congress leaders including the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Ministers Sharad Pawar and Shivraj Patil remained unconcerned with the drought situation in Bundelkhand, despite his several requests. “They did assure to provide relief package, but they did not bother to send relief for the severely drought affected Bundelkhand region,” he added.

He informed that the state government has provided relief worth crores of rupees and it is for the first time that it has declared drought as a natural calamity and done whatever possible to provide succour to those affected by recurrent droughts for the past four years. Elated over the victory in Betul Lok Sabha by-elections, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan Wednesday said that it was a victory of good work done by the BJP government in its four years of rule. “Even the usual anti-incumbency was not visible during these bye-elections and it was only because the welfare and development works done by the government had negated it. Proper election management by the party also helped garnering votes to retain the seat,” he said.

Chouhan said that the tremendous price rise in the recent past also helped the BJP to win the election. On the fall of victory margin as compared to the previous elections, Chouhan said that the previous Lok Sabha election in Betul was held soon after the State polls in which the BJP had a landslide victory and the Congress therefore did not took it seriously. But this time, the Chief Minister said, the Congress had contested the polls with its full might and the caste equation was also in its favour like never before. In reply to another question, the Chief Minister said,  "The Congress was terrorized of Shivraj Singh Chouhan and it feels that targeting the Chief Minister in all petty matters would help it accrues political gains which was not the case."