Bhopal: Euphoria over enthusiastic public response to the “Jan Ashirvad Yatra”, the 51-day campaign launched by chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on July 14 across Madhya Pradesh to stir a wind in favour of Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of year-end Assembly elections in the state, seems to be giving way to discomfiture in the ruling party.
In a cause of concern for Mr Chouhan’s forehead, people were seen thronging the event with their grievances with the hope of resolution with the chief minister’s direct intervention. “During the road shows, when the chief minister moves in his luxury bus-turned chariot to reach out to the people on the route of the yatra, people were seen coming to greet him along with their complaints.”
“Similarly, during his public meetings organised on the way, people gave their complaints directly to the chief minister and BJP workers gathered there.”
“At the end of the day, sacks full of complaints have been received by the organisers of the event,” a senior BJP leader told this newspaper on Tuesday requesting anonymity.
The chief minister was so much worried over the development that he convened a video-conferencing of district collectors late on Monday night to seek explanation from them as to why people’s grievances could not be disposed of by them.
“I am really worried over mounting public grievances I have been receiving during the yatra,” Mr Chouhan told the district collectors while directing them to take immediate action to address them.
The chief minister also placed under suspension an executive engineer in a district for closing the chief minister’s helpline service in his area.
“The claim by the Bharatiya Janata Party of Jan Ashirvad Yatra attracting huge crowds wherever it goes has proved hollow since it is now exposed that people are attending the chief minister’s programme seeking to solve their problems.”
“This is a manifestation of simmering frustration among the people over misrule of the 15-year-long Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state,” said Pankaj Chaturvedy Congress spokesperson.
