'Rahul has no right to question govt'

Raipur: Ahead of the Assembly elections in the state of Chhattisgarh, the Bharatiya Janata Party has kicked off its election campaigns with the second leg of the 'Vikas Yatra' across the state on Wednesday. BJP chief Amit Shah and chief minister Raman Singh flagged off the programme, dedicating to the BJP patriarch and 'craftsman' of the state, Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

While addressing a public meeting at Kurrubhat village in Dongargarh, Shah drew a parallel between BJP government and 'Angad ka Paon' suggesting that it was firmly in place and had no chances of being uprooted. Angad, the son of monkey king Bali, is a mythological character from Ramayana. He had challenged those in demon king Ravana's court to lift his leg, but none had succeeded.

He also called both the BJP governments in the state and centre as a Double-Decker bus for development."Chhattisgarh was considered as a 'Bimaru' state before the BJP came to power (15 years ago). But now it is counted among the developed states," Shah mentioned.

During the same event the party in the state further launched the slogan and the website -- "Nava Chhattisgarh by 2025," and the BJP national president urged the people to elect the Singh government for the fourth term in upcoming polls to fulfill the target. He also praised Raman Singh for naming the upcoming new state capital of Chhattisgarh as "Atal Nagar." "The BJP has continued its winning spree in various states under the leadership of Narendra Modi who has been working to safeguard the country since 2014. We have governments in 20 states. In one side Atalji is the 'creator' of Chhattisgarh, Raman Singhji is the 'developer' of the state," Shah added.

The CM also mentioned that there are total 9 lakh beneficiaries of UJJWALA scheme of the Government of India, around 1 crore beneficiaries of UJALA scheme and 99 per cent people have Jan Dhan account across the state.

"Chhattisgarh government has also called a special Assembly session for farmer friends. The state government would distribute Rs 300 paddy bonus to farmers," Singh added.

The party has also set a target of 65 seats out of 90. While the first phase of the yatra had covered 5,000 km across 55 Assembly constituencies, the second phase is expected to cover about 6,000 km. The BJP chief visited the Bamleshwari Temple in Rajnandgaon where he offered prayers before flagging off the Yatra.

Shah also made a scathing attack on Congress president Rahul Gandhi and said he does not have the right to counter Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and asking for 'hisab' of four years. "I was listening to the speech of 'Shehzada' (prince) of the Congress. He was asking Modiji's account of the work done during the last four years. Why was he even asking this question? The people of the country wanted to know from Rahul the account of work done during your four-generation rule," he mentioned.

Adding further the BJP chief said, "Their government was in power for 60 years but why electricity did not reach villages. Why did farmers not get better MSP? Why did benefits of other welfare schemes not reach masses? People of the country want to know the account of 60 years of rule from you." Referring to the alleged coal allocation scam that had surfaced under the previous Congress-led UPA government, Shah said the Congress is a "coal mine thief which committed irregularities in the coal block allocations".

Shah also said, "Rahul baba, during his recent visit to Chhattisgarh, was asking why the Raman Singh government did not purchase mobile phones from BHEL under the SKY scheme. BHEL does not manufacture phones and Rahul does not even know that and he is asking for the hisab (account)." SKY, launched in July this year, is expected to benefit 45 lakh women belonging to poor families and five lakh college students who will be given smartphones.

Besides, during the programme 2000 cycles, 300 stitching machines and 51 e-rickshaw were also distributed to women of this region. 400 tool-kits were given to MANREGA labours and tractors to farmers under the state government's various developmental schemes.

Amit Shah is also expected to be in Ujjain on September 12, from where he will commence his poll campaign in another poll-bound state Madhya Pradesh.