Madhya Pradesh Election 2023: Amit Shah's Fierce Attempt To Woo Voters In Kamal Nath's Bastion Chhindwara

Training his guns on Nath, Amit Shah said the former did nothing for the people of the state when he was chief minister between December 2018 and March 2020 but "indulged in corruption".

Shah alleged several crore rupees were paid in advance without following laid down procedures in a dam construction work in which names of people close to the Congress leader cropped up.

CHHINDWARA: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday slammed the Congress for its treatment of tribals and the downtrodden and said only the Bharatiya Janata Party can provide security and prosperity to the country and also ensure welfare of the poor. Speaking at a gathering in Chhindwara, the bastion of Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Kamal Nath for almost 50 years now, Shah asked people to vote overwhelmingly for the BJP in the Assembly polls to be held in the state later this year and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Training his guns on Nath, the Union minister said the former did nothing for the people of the state when he was chief minister between December 2018 and March 2020 but "indulged in corruption".

"Previous Congress governments did not care for the tribals, the poor and those from the Other Backward Classes. Only the BJP can provide security, prosperity and ensure welfare of the poor. Prime Minister Narendra Modi cares for the respect of tribals, whom the Congress has neglected for years," Shah said.

"A woman from a poor tribal family, Droupadi Murmu, is now the honourable President of India after 75 years (of Independence) due to the efforts of PM Modi," he said.

The PM had also announced nationwide celebration of legendary tribal leader Birsa Munda's birth anniversary on November 15 last year as 'Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas', the Union Home Minister said.

"The Congress has always talked about the downtrodden but did nothing for them. PM Modi gave constitutional status to the OBC Commission after coming to power in 2014 and laid the foundation for their respect. Only the BJP has cared for the respect of tribals and OBCs," Shah asserted.

After the formation of the NDA government in 2014, PM Modi said the BJP's regime was that of the poor, the downtrodden, Dalits, tribals and OBCs, while the Congress, which gave the slogan of "garibi hatao', (eradicate poverty) did nothing for them, Shah claimed.

"In the last nine years (of NDA rule), the Union government has worked to transform the lives of 80 crore poor people. Bank accounts had been opened for 60 crore citizens, 13 crore persons got gas cylinders and 10 crore families saw toilets getting built in their homes. Three crore people got their own houses. More than 60 crore people are reaping the benefits of Ayushman Bharat health scheme, which has a coverage of Rs 5 lakh," Shah said.

"PM Modi got 130 crore people vaccinated for free to protect them from coronavirus. Modiji has ensured the poor get five kilograms of rations free every month at their doorsteps," he added.

Attacking Nath, the Union Home minister said, "Instead of doing something new (during his tenure as CM), Kamal Nath indulged in corruption."

Shah alleged several crore rupees were paid in advance without following laid down procedures in a dam construction work in which names of people close to the Congress leader cropped up.

"He had promised to give allowance to unemployed (youth) during the last Assembly polls but no one got it. Instead, he abandoned the welfare schemes launched by Shivraj Singh Chouhan," said Shah, who listed many "unfulfilled promises" of Nath.

छिंदवाड़ा (मध्य प्रदेश) की धरती पर @BJP4MP द्वारा आयोजित महाविजय उद्घोष जनसभा में उमड़े जनसैलाब को संबोधित कर रहा हूँ। https://t.co/4xNZMMv9FZ — Amit Shah (@AmitShah) March 25, 2023

Shah said the BJP government had made a budgetary allocation of Rs 34,000 crore for Chhindwara and spoke of multi-crore central projects sanctioned for the region. Some 35-40 per cent of people from the Chhindwara region are from the tribal communities.

The Narendra Modi government removed provisions of Article 370 that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, 2019, while the Congress dragged its feet on the issue for years, he said.

MP Congress president and former chief minister Kamal Nath was first elected to the Lok Sabha from Chhindwara in 1980 and repeated the feat several times, with his only loss coming in a bypoll in 1997.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP managed to win 28 out of 29 Lok Sabha seats in MP, including that of then Congress heavyweight Jyotiraditya Scindia, but Chhindwara remained out of grasp with Nath's son Nakul Nath winning it by a margin of more than 35,000 votes.

The Congress had formed government under Kamal Nath after the 2018 Assembly polls before a rebellion by MLAs loyal to Scindia brought it down in March 2020 and paved the way for the return of a BJP dispensation under Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

Shah's meet was part of the BJP's mass outreach programme set to cover 130-odd Lok Sabha seats it failed to win in the 2019 polls, party functionaries said.