Rahul just an entertainment for people of Chhattishgarh, says Raman Singh

Raipur: Launching a scathing attack on Rahul Gandhi, poll-bound Chhattishgarh’s chief minister Raman Singh on Saturday alleged the Congress chief was “sort of an entertainment” for people in the state and his campaign could be detrimental to his own party.

Ahead of the crucial first phase of voting in the state on Monday, Mr Singh said Mr Gandhi does not know anything about Chhattisgarh and his rallies would not help the Congress draw any significant votes.

Mr Singh’s counter-attack came a day after the Congress president, during his election campaign on Friday, accused Mr Singh of indulging in graft and of doing any work only after taking “permission from his 10-15 industrialist friends”.

“Rahul does not know anything about Chhattisgarh. People of Chhattisgarh do not take him seriously. He is sort of an entertainment for them,” Mr Singh said.

Mr Singh, who has been a chief minister of the tribal-dominated state for a record 15 years out of its 18-year history, said Mr Gandhi’s presence in the state would not dent poll prospects of the BJP, but might prove detrimental to his own Congress party.

While there was no immediate comment from the Congress on the latest jibe at its party chief, the allegations levelled by various political parties have often become personal amid a rising election fever in the country’s political landscape.

While the Congress has been accusing the BJP-led governments at the Centre and in various states of indulging in crony capitalism, Mr Gandhi has launched an aggressive campaign centred around these charges for the five poll-bound states.