Will defeat BJP with love, says Rahul Gandhi in Chouhan's constituency

Nasrullahgunj (Sehore): With 72 hours left for campaigning, AICC president Rahul on Friday addressed a public meeting in chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s constituency of Budhni. To ensure Chouhan does not get a cake-walk, Congress has fielded 44-year-old former Union minister of state Arun Yadav against the chief minister. “A youth is contesting from your seat,” Rahul Gandhi said, addressing a large gathering. “If Shivraj Singh Chouhan is the past of Madhya Pradesh, Arun Yadav is the future,” he said.
The Congress president received an overwhelming response at the Nasrullahgunj public meeting on Friday afternoon, a feat that would have been impossible in 2013 assembly polls when voters here had assured the chief minister to campaign in other seats and not worries about Budhni. Shivraj Singh Chouhan has been politically attached to this constituency for over three decades having been elected legislator four times and MP five times.

“This will be a historic fight with the chief minister of 15 years on one side and Arun Yadav representing people’s voice on the other. I have told him (Arun Yadav) to remember he is a candidate of the Congress party and not a member of the RSS. The person he is contesting against is chief minister for three terms. Pyar me, radar se lake harana hai (will defeat him with love and affection),” the Congress national president said.

While asking Arun Yadav to contest with love in Budhni, Rahul Gandhi launched a direct attack on the chief minister and his family for alleged irregularities in Vyapam, e-tendering scam and illegal sand mining activities. “Our government’s focus will be education, health facilities and Congress’ chief minister will spend 18 hours a day to generate employment opportunities,” Rahul Gandhi said.

“Because presently in this state, a student does not pass his examinations by studying but through bribery. That is Vyapam scam. Then there is the e-tendering scam in which, all tenders have been given to the chief minister’s friends. And there are illegal sand mining activities by the mafia. You will find the name of Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his family members in all these scams,” the Congress president alleged.

Rahul Gandhi admitted that out of confusion, he made a mistake in a previous election rally by saying chief minister’s son Kartikeya has been named in the Panama Papers. “I made a mistake because there are so many scams, it is confusing. So instead of the Chhattisgarh chief minister’s son, I mistakenly named Chouhan’s son. Shivraj Singh Chouhan immediately retaliated and said he will file a defamation suit against me. But I have constantly named him and his family for Vyapam, e-tendering and illegal sand mining. He doesn’t want to file defamation suit when I accused him of these. It means there is truth in these allegations,” he said.

Hitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the Congress president said, “The Prime Minister and chief minister should know that farmers of Madhya Pradesh will not forget Mandsaur.” He also reiterated that after coming to power in the state, the Congress government will waive farm loans in ten days. “It won’t take the eleventh day and farm loans will be waived before that. We have done it during the UPA regime by waiving Rs 70,000 crore of agricultural loans, also done it in Punjab and Karnataka. No power in the world can stop farm loan waiver in Madhya Pradesh,” he assured.