In MP, BJP dares Congress to declare its CM candidate

Bhopal: BJP national president Amit Shah on Sunday dared Congress to declare its chief ministerial candidate in the poll-bound Madhya Pradesh.

Mr Shah, who was on a two-day tour of MP to canvass for the party for the November 28 Asse-mbly elections, wondered why Congress was reluctant to announce its chief ministerial nominee in the state.

“A raja, a Maharaja and a businessman cannot win the election for Congress,” he quipped apparently referring to Congress troika, Digvijaya Singh, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Kamal Nath, respectively.

Mr Shah was addressing BJP workers in Hosan-gabad nearly 80km from here. “On the other hand, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan hails from a poor family and is a mass leader,” he added.

He also took a dig at Congress president Rahul Gandhi for questioning the contribution of the Centre towards the development of Madhya Pradesh, saying the allocation to the state by 14th Finance Commission during the incumbent regime at the Centre has incr-eased by two and half times to 3.44 lakh crore from Rs 1,34 lakh crore sanctioned by 13th Finance Commission during the Manmohan Singh government’s tenure.

Mr Shah exhorted party workers to create a tsunami of support in the Assembly polls to ensure a massive mandate for the party in the coming polls.  “Our workers should create a tsunami of support for the party to achieve the target of winning more than 200 out of 230 seats in the year-end elections,” the BJP president added.