Allegations and counter-allegations are pouring in from all corners in the poll-bound Madhya Pradesh. On the one hand PM Narendra Modi claimed that demonetisation was a bitter medicine to treat corruption that got deeply rooted in the system during the Congress regime. On the other hand, Congress has released ‘Arop Patra’ or charge-sheet to corner Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s government in the state.
Releasing the 25-point charge-sheet, senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala targeted the 15-years incumbent BJP government on as many as 21 scams. “The Arop Patra is an account of the failures of the Shivraj Singh Chouhan BJP government. On behalf of the people of this state, this is a revelation and exposure of the scams and financial irregularities of the Madhya Pradesh government,” said Surjewala said during the press release.
One of the charges against the BJP government was that in the past 15 years the government has failed to address the issues plaguing the agriculture sector, especially farmers’ suicides. Surjewala claimed that in Chouhan’s home district itself as many as 24 farmers appealed for euthanasia to end their lives. He revealed that as many as 1,500 farmer agitations took place in the past 15 years, but the government has not done anything substantial to bring relief to the farm distress in the state. The ‘arop patra’ further claimed that the government’s ‘Fasal Bima Scheme’ benefited only private companies. According to the union agriculture minister Purushottam Rupala, farmer suicides in MP shot up by 21% since 2016.
The charge-sheet also attacked the ruling party on a range of issues like law and order, healthcare, education, unemployment, among many others. Congress is hoping to come back to power in the state after 15 years, while BJP is putting all its strength to grab the fourth consecutive term in the state that goes to poll on November 28. According to the recent opinion poll by C-Voter, Congress may grab 42.3 % of the vote share and win around 116 seats against 107 projected for the ruling BJP party.