Bhopal: The ruling BJP in Madhya Pradesh is
unfazed by the change of leadership in the State Congress and
feels that the entry of Kantilal Bhuria will not be that
beneficial for the grand old party, which is looking to up its
prospects in tribal areas.
Main Opposition Congress recently appointed Union
Minister for Tribal Welfare, Kantilal Bhuria as the Madhya
Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) President replacing senior
leader Suresh Pachouri with an aim to revive the party,
specially in the tribal areas.
"When Sonia Gandhi`s magic did not work in Bihar, then
I don`t think he will have any effect in Madhya Pradesh as
Bhuria`s stature is not bigger than that of the Congress
President," the State BJP President, Prabhat Jha told PTI.
We have decided not to talk about Bhuria as we believe he
will not have any effect in Madhya Pradesh, Jha said.
"The party has a battery of tribal leaders including
former MPs, Dilip Singh Bhuria and Faggan Singh Kulaste and
the present Tribal Welfare Minister in the State, Vijay Shah
among others to counter him," he said.
Leave alone the entire state, Bhuria will not be able to
manage his own Ratlam-Jhabua constituency in the 2013 Assembly
polls, Jha asserted.
Out of the total five seats in Jhabua and Alirajpur
districts, BJP has only one seat in its kitty, while
the Opposition Congress holds the remaining four.
But of the total 47 ST reserve seats in the State
Assembly, the ruling BJP has 36. While in Lok Sabha, out of
the total six seats reserved for ST, four are with the
Congress and two with the BJP.
However, in a major upset to the Congress, the BJP has
wrested Kukshi assembly seat from the main opposition party in
the state which was represented by then Leader of Opposition,
late Jamuna Devi.
The BJP government in the state has already launched
various welfare schemes for the development of tribal areas to
with an eye on its Mission-2013 of coming back to power for
the third time in a row.
However, criticising Madhya Pradesh government on the
issue of distribution of land rights to the tribals, he said
recently at a function in Chhindwara district that the state
was unable to implement the central law on the issue and
out of the total 4.50 lakh applications, so far, only 90,000
tribals received land ownership papers.
PTI
