RAIPUR: BJP president JP Nadda on Saturday launched the party’s poll campaign from the tribal-dominated Bastar region, stating that Maoist attacks have increased under the present Congress regime led by Bhupesh Baghel. While addressing a public rally at Jagdalpur, Nadda said he was deeply pained by the recent killing of three BJP leaders by Maoists in Bastar region.
The BJP is vying for the support of tribals in the Assembly elections that are scheduled to be held later this year.“There was peace, with no law and order problems during the Raman Singh government. But the situation changed under the Congress government. Another name of the Congress is deception. The BJP stands for development while the Congress creates hurdles,” Nadda said, recounting that the decision of creating a separate Chhattisgarh state was taken by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
The BJP leader enumerated the initiatives for the tribal population taken by the BJP government during its 15-year-rule and how it was the Modi government that gave a member of the tribal community an opportunity to become the President of India.
“Today, there are eight tribal ministers in the Modi-led Centre, besides three governors appointed from the tribal community,” he added. In the previous Assembly elections, the BJP could win only one seat — Dantewada — in the Bastar region, which the party later lost to the ruling Congress in the bypoll after MLA Bheema Mandavi was killed in an IED blast triggered by Maoists in 2019.
The Congress now has MLAs from all 12 constituencies in Bastar zone. Nadda later went to Narayanpur district to meet the family members of district vice-president Sagar Sahu who was killed by Maoists on Friday.Congress state president Mohan Markam, who also hails from Bastar’s Kondagaon region, took a jibe at Nadda, pointing out that the BJP president couldn’t ensure his party’s win in the elections in his home state of Himachal Pradesh.