Madhya Pradesh Polls: CM Shivraj's 'Khayali Pulav’ Jibe On Rahul Gandhi's Claim Of '150 Seats' For Congress

BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Monday exuded confidence that his party BJP will win more than 200 seats and categorically dismissed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's claim that his party is all set to win 150 seats in the upcoming Assembly Elections in the state. Taking a swipe at Rahul Gandhi, CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan quoted a line from famous Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib’s couplet indicating Congress is creating ideas to amuse their hearts. 

Chouhan claimed that BJP will win more than 200 seats out of the 230 total seats in the state assembly. Chouhan also called Rahul Gandhi’s remarks ‘khayali pulav’ (imaginary casserole). His reaction came after former Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said that his party will win 150 seats in the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections.

#WATCH | ...BJP is going to get more than 200 seats in Madhya Pradesh. 'Unko khayali pulao pakaane hai toh pakaate rahe': Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Rahul Gandhi's statement of Congress getting more than 150 seats pic.twitter.com/ING63EUuR6

— ANI (@ANI) May 29, 2023

Rahul Gandhi made the remarks after a meeting of party national president Mallikarjun Kharge with other party leaders. Speaking to the reporters, Rahul Gandhi said, "We had a very detailed meeting right now. Our internal assessment says that since we got 136 seats in Karnataka, we are now going to get 150 seats in Madhya Pradesh. What we did in Karnataka, we will repeat in MP".

However, the former Wayanad MP refused to comment on the Chief Ministerial face of the party in the state. Mallikarjun Kharge held a meeting with the party leaders from Madhya Pradesh on Monday. Along with him, Rahul Gandhi, party General Secretary KC Venugopal, MP state chief Digvijay Singh and former CM Kamal Nath were also present in the meeting.

It may be noted that the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government’s tenure will end in January 2024 and the elections are likely to be held by the end of 2023. The last assembly polls were held in November 2018 when the results showed a hung assembly.

In the 2018 elections, Kamal Nath was sworn in as the Chief Minister when Congress formed the government winning 114 seats, and getting support from BSP, SP, and four independent MLAs. However, in 2020 the Madhya Pradesh Assembly plunged into a political crisis after a few Congress MLAs resigned and Jyotisaditya Scindia joined BJP.

The Supreme Court ordered a floor test and Shivraj Singh Chouhan formed the government. In the 2018 assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Congress emerged as the single largest party with 114 seats and BJP got 109 seats. However, in 2020, the Congress government lost the majority followed by the resignations of some MLAs. After this, BJP formed the government in the state and Shivraj Singh Chouhan was reinstated as the Chief Minister.