All eyes are on Chattisgarh’s first-ever three-way contest
Congress and its naamdar hurling abuses at me: Modi
raipur — Campaigning for the second and final phase of the Assembly polls in Chhattisgarh concluded on Sunday, with political bigwigs including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Raman Singh and Congress president Rahul Gandhi raising the heat in the state where the BJP has been in power since 2003.
A total of 1,079 candidates are in the fray for the 72 seats spread across 19 districts in the second phase.
Addressing a rally in Mahasamund, Modi ridiculed the erstwhile Manmohan Singh-led UPA regime as a “remote-controlled government”, and said that Raman Singh’s BJP government, ruling the state since 2003, could do real work only after the BJP took power at the Centre in 2014.
Besides Modi, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh addressed public rallies at Lailunga, Dharamjaigarh and Takhtpur. Chief Minister Raman Singh addressed public meetings at six places.
The state is for the first time witnessing a three-way electoral contest with arch-rivals Congress and the BJP battling it out, with the alliance of Mayawatiled Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and former chief minister Ajit Jogi’s Janta Congress Chhattisgarh potentially turning out to be the third force.
The BSP is contesting for 25 seats and its ally the Janta Congress Chhattisgarh for 46 seats.
The Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party has fielded candidates in 66 constituencies.
The first phase of the election in 18 constituencies across eight Maoist-infested districts of the state took place on November 12 and saw a 76.28 per cent voting despite Maoists threatening people to stay away from the poll process.
The BJP, vying for a fourth straight term, has 49 seats in the outgoing Assembly, the Congress 38 and the BSP one in the 90-member Assembly. — chhindwara (madhya pradesh) — Peeved at Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s repeated chowkidar chor hai jibe at him on the Rafale issue, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the naamdaar (dynast) and his party were hurling all kinds of abuses at him.
Modi targeted Rahul without naming him and said he did not like that the government has plugged the leaks in various welfare schemes and weeded out bogus beneficiaries.
“We put a check on Rs900 billion annual rip-off in fake names in welfare schemes after implementation of Aadhaar-based identification. The naamdaar did not like this,” he said at a rally in Chinndwara, the home turf of state Congress chief Kamal Nath.
“He (Rahul) is in pain. He is in trouble. What all is he saying? He is hurling all type of abuses from all dictionaries, (be it) Hindi, English... at me,” the prime minister said.
The opposition party has attacked others as well, he said.
“The Congress people are hurling abuses at chaiwalas, pakodawalas, chowkidars, surgical strike, army chief...what has become of their culture? he asked. “Winning and losing elections is part of the game. Why have you all lost the balance (of your mind)?” he asked.
Addressing rallies in poll-bound states, Rahul has repeatedly said
“chowkidar chor hai” (the watchman is a thief) — a jibe at Modi over the alleged Rafale fighter jet deal scam. He said Modi had once said he did not want to be the country’s prime minister, but its chowkidar (watchman). Modi said the “naamdar cannot do any good to his party”.
He also took on the Congress chief for linking Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s son Kartikey Chouhan to the Panama Papers. “What all are they saying? After that they say I (Rahul) was confused,” Modi said.
After Rahul’s remarks, Kartikey Chouhan filed a defamation suit against him. The Congress chief later said he took the name of the chief minister’s son out of “confusion”. — PTI