Jobat (Madhya Pradesh): Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday ridiculed the Congress and said it faced a leadership vacuum with the party having only Rahul Gandhi in Delhi and Kamal Nath in the state.
He was speaking at a rally in Udaygarh in Jobat Assembly seat, where a bypoll is scheduled for October 30 with the BJP nominating Soluchana Rawat as its candidate.
"From Delhi to Bhopal, the condition of the Congress is bad as it is left with no leaders. In Delhi, it has Rahul Gandhi and in MP, Kamal Nath is the only option for the party when it comes to chief minister, leader of opposition, state unit president, star campaigner. And its youth leader is now Nakul Nath (Chhindwara MP and Nath's son). The rest of the Congress is anaath (orphaned)", Chouhan said.
Taunting the opposition party further, Chouhan said the Congress had no "water left in it" and, therefore, could not be relied upon to arrange it for the masses either.
He said the Congress, during its 15-month stint in power under Nath, had stopped tribal welfare schemes started by the BJP, adding that development works took place in Alirajpur district, of which Jobat is a part, under the BJP and the Congress had ignored the area for 50 years.
Roads had been built in the area by the BJP government and wells have been dug in fields under its Kapildhara scheme, while work was underway to bring Narmada river water to the district through a pipeline, the CM said.
In order to help tribals, the sale of tendu leaves will be through forest committees, and produce will be bought at support prices, he said, adding that petty cases against tribals will be taken back and youth from these communities will be trained to become rural engineers.
Bypoll results will be announced in November 2.
