BHOPAL: A massive road show was organised by the Congress in preparation for the year-end Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, to welcome its newly-appointed state president Kamal Nath in Bhopal on Tuesday.
A roofless vehicle carrying all top MP Congress leaders, including Kamal Nath, head of election campaign committee Jyotiraditya Scindia and ex-CM Digvijay Singh took six hours to cover a distance of 20 km from Bhopal Airport to MP Congress Committee (MPCC) office amid a massive crowd of Congress workers and supporters. The leaders presented a united front by riding on one vehicle together.
Addressing party workers, Kamal Nath cautioned the party against overconfidence. “We need to work religiously for strengthening the party at the grassroots level, but should always be wary of overconfidence, which will damage our political interests,” said Nath.
Asked if he was the party’s face for the Chief Minister’s post, Nath said, “I’ve made it clear in the past also that I don’t have hunger for any post. My only quest is to bring back Congress government in the state.”
“Strengthening the party organization on grassroots in the state is a big challenge for us, as we’ve to fight a big battle. Never in my political career has the situation been such bad for each and every segment of the population in the state as it’s now. I want to tell the CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan that time of making popular announcements is over, it’s the time he gives hisaab (account) of his deeds to the people,” said Nath.
Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the former union minister said, “Achhey din (good days) have only been ushered for BJP leaders, who once didn’t even afford to buy a two-wheeler, but they now own not one, but many four-wheelers.”
Questioning the GDP and agricultural growth claims of the BJP government in MP, Nath said, “The maximum farmers’ suicides are happening here. Years ago when we met farmers in MP they demanded hike in minimum support prices, but now they beg you to get them even the prevailing MSP, which they aren’t getting.”
Former CM Digvijay Singh said the BJP often talks about Congress being a faction-ridden party. “The Congress is united and we’ve to particularly take care of our workers falsely implicated in criminal cases by the BJP government,” he said.