BHOPAL: Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has written to Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, demanding an increase in the number of posts in the state’s teacher recruitment drive.
Hours after the letter, dated September 29, became public on Monday, Yadav took an indirect swipe at Gandhi’s recent visit to Balaghat, saying Congress leaders were visiting the district now that the BJP government had eliminated Naxal activity.
In his letter, Gandhi raised the issue of vacancies in government schools, saying more than one lakh teaching posts were lying vacant and that this was directly affecting children’s education. He urged the state government to increase the number of posts in the 2025 Class 2 and Class 3 teacher recruitment drives and begin the second round of counselling without delay.
Gandhi said aspiring teachers had raised the issue of increasing vacancies during his “Chhatron Ki Goonj” interaction in Indore last month.
According to Gandhi, more than one lakh teaching positions are vacant in Madhya Pradesh’s government schools. Despite this, the 2025 recruitment drive has announced only 13,089 posts for Class 3 and 10,800 for Class 2, he said.
Gandhi also said candidates demanding more vacancies were staging protests and hunger strikes, and alleged that the government was attempting to intimidate them by sending notices to their homes. He urged Yadav to withdraw the notices immediately and meet representatives of the candidates to hear their concerns.
Meanwhile, addressing a public programme in Khandwa district on the birth anniversary of Rani Durgavati, Yadav did not name Gandhi but appeared to refer to his recent visit to Balaghat.
“Now that we have eliminated the Naxalites, these vote-hungry people will go to Balaghat. When your government was in power, you should have gone there,” the Chief Minister said.
“This is our government; you can travel across the entire state, but nothing is going to happen,” he added.
Yadav accused the Congress of neglecting tribal areas during its years in power. He alleged that Naxals had operated freely in Mandla, Balaghat and Dindori, while dacoits were active in the Chambal region. He also recalled the killing of Congress minister Likhiram Kawre and claimed that Congress leaders had never visited his family.
Gandhi had visited Jagle village in Balaghat on October 1 and met tribal families following reports of the deaths of more than 30 tribal children in the district’s tribal-dominated areas. In a social media post, Gandhi said no grief was greater than losing a child and blamed the “apathy and negligence” of the BJP government for what he described as a tragedy that could have been prevented.
The September 29 letter was the second Gandhi had written to Yadav in less than two weeks. On September 23, he made public an earlier letter, dated September 22, urging the Chief Minister to implement the 27 per cent OBC reservation and issue appointment letters to selected candidates. The issue had also been raised by students during Gandhi’s “Chhatron Ki Goonj” interaction in Indore.
Gandhi had said appointments against 13 per cent of posts under the quota had been on hold for more than four years despite the selection process having been completed. He reminded the Chief Minister that all parties had backed the 27 per cent quota and urged him to issue appointment letters to all selected candidates.
The BJP responded sharply, with a state minister blaming the previous Kamal Nath-led Congress government for the impasse. The 27 per cent quota was introduced in 2019 under that government and has since been embroiled in litigation.
The exchanges come as the Congress seeks to put pressure on the BJP government over jobs, reservation and tribal welfare issues ahead of the 2028 Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, with the ruling party responding in kind.
