‘Most farm protests staged by Oppn’
them to take up entrepreneurial ventures and diversify the source of income of their families.
How do you see the Congress as a challenge?
The people in the Congress have been fighting each other. This internal conflict of the party came out in public many times. There are many groups of various leaders in the MP Congress and the party is in complete disarray. Every other day, you hear of their state in-charge getting beaten up by supporters of one or the other group. I have even requested our home minister to speak with him and provide him additional security if needed. They don’t have any appropriate plan about the development of Madhya Pradesh. They have no clear vision for the people of the state and I assure you that we will come back with thumping majority. We are getting victories in every state. I think we should replace the phrase from ‘Congrees Mukt Bharat’ to ‘BJP Yukt Bharat’.
But the Congress seems more united this time.
I have heard there are social media and poster wars going on between (Jyotiraditya) Scindia ji’s and Kamal Nath ji’s supporters. The Congress has also systematically sidelined Digvijay (Singh) ji, Ajay Singh, et cetera. This is their internal matter, but also if you look at them, they haven’t said anything concrete about the road map for the development of the state or people. Instead, they have been making personal attacks on me. Since they come from a lineage of kings and businessmen, their arrogance is visible.
Will an alliance between the Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and others impact the polls?
The Congress is trying to form an alliance with the BSP. It shows that they have accepted that they cannot defeat the BJP alone. They are trying to do caste politics and consolidate Dalit votes behind them. They don’t realise that the community is solidly behind us due to the work done under the various social sector schemes. What did the Congress do for them except using them as a vote bank? We don’t consider this alliance a threat.
You mentioned welfare schemes. The state has a debt of ₹1.87 lakh crore. How will you fund these ambitious schemes?
We are in a proper shape to withstand any monetary overload of the schemes that have been rolled out. We have spent significant capital resources on building world-class infrastructure in the state. We are now past this phase and assets will just require maintenance as we go ahead freeing up resources for social welfare schemes. The fiscal deficit in our budget for 2018-19 is within the prescribed 3.25% limit of the Madhya Pradesh Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2005. Also, Madhya Pradesh is one among the few states that have been able to meet deficit targets year after year.