The outgoing chief minister of Madhya Pradesh,
Shivraj Singh Chouhan, conceded in an interview to Aman Sharma that the
farm loan waiver promise of the
Congress worked to an extent in the recent assembly election but said the 2019 general election would be a different story as people would vote for the
BJP on the basis of the work done by the
Narendra Modi government. Excerpts:
Why did the BJP lose the Madhya Pradesh polls?
We got more votes than the Congress but 109 seats. I did a lot of work as CM but I feel mujh mein hi kahin kami reh gayi, poora nahin kar paaya (there was some shortcoming in me that I could not complete the job). I also feel that the loan waiver promise of the Congress worked to some extent, but not full impact or we would have been wiped out. We won three out of four seats in Mandsaur (lost one by just 300 votes) and all four seats in Neemuch. The seat in Mandsaur, in which the unfortunate incident of firing had happened in 2017, we won by about 10,000 votes.
Why didn’t the BJP promise a similar farm loan waiver?
My belief was that the farmer wants full worth of his sweat and that he is not in favour of any khairat (dole). For that I started many schemes and the amount of money I put in the accounts of farmers is unparalleled in any other state. I believed our Mukhyamantri Krishak Samridhi Yojana for small farmers was far more beneficial for them. The total loan waiver being promised by Congress now in one go – I would have given the double of it to farmers over next five years through various schemes.
How is the recent loss likely to impact the BJP in 2019?
This loss will not impact the 2019 results. Modi rules the hearts of the people and is a symbol of faith for them. By the assembly results too, we have a lead on 17 out of the 29 Lok Sabha seats in MP – we will better that by a long way. I will devote myself fully to the 2019 campaign in MP. As for the Vidisha Lok Sabha seat on which Sushma Swaraj ji will not contest now, the party will decide whom to field.
Kamal Nath has said your government left the state bankrupt…
Khazana bhara hua hai, bhandar bharpoor hai (the state exchequer is full of funds). I can debate on this anywhere.MP is a revenue surplus state. In fact, our economic condition is better than that of many other states. Never have we gone into overdraft like some other states. On the loans, these are very much within the limits of percentage permitted to us by the Centre.