Modi’s strident attacks on Baghel govt puts BJP on driver’s seat

Raipur: Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed five rallies in Chhattisgarh after the announcement of the Assembly polls on Sunday, December 3. He targeted CM Bhupesh Baghel over the alleged Mahadev app scam and accused the Congress of appeasement politics. While calling the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) promises “Modi’s guarantees,”

With 53 seats in the 90-member Assembly, the BJP, which mostly relied on the charisma of the PM, was leading. Defying the predictions of most exit polls gave the ruling Congress an advantage in the state.

Additionally, the Congress is leading on 35 seats, with several of its stalwarts, including Deputy CM TS Singh Deo and state unit chief Deepak Baij, trailing from Ambikapur and Chitrakot, respectively.

In five rallies in Kanker, Durg, Surajpur, Mungeli, and Mahasamund districts after the announcement of the poll schedule on October 9, Modi had attacked the Congress over corruption. He said the BJP would come back to set the state back on the path of development.

“BJP has created Chhattisgarh, and it would only nurture the state,” he said in the rallies. Including in Mungeli and Mahasamund on November 13, where he accused CM Baghel of stalling development and allowing his kin, including his son, and a coterie of officials to act as “super CM.”

The Congress led by Baghel and those close to him had looted the coffers of the state during its five-year rule, he said.

Meanwhile, speaking about the alleged money trail in the Mahadev app “scam,” which is being probed by the Enforcement Directorate, He asserted that the 30 percent commission government of Kaka is sure to go. Baghel is fondly called ‘kaka’ by his supporters.

The PM had also said the Baghel government was involved in alleged irregularities in the state public service commission recruitment process and had warned that those involved would not be spared when the BJP comes to power.

The PM had said the people of the state were fed up with the Baghel government and were now chanting “aur na sahibo, badal ke rahibo” (will not tolerate anymore, will bring about change).

Slamming the Congress for its demand for a caste census, Modi said the poor were the biggest caste for him in the country.

The PM had addressed rallies in Jagdalpur (October), Bilaspur and Raigarh (September), and Raipur (July), which were well attended and set the groundwork for the BJP’s campaign to unseat Baghel.