Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah here on Saturday formally launched the party's mass contact campaign in the Malwa-Nimad region. He launched the 'Maha Jansampark Abhiyan' from the Rajwada area and sought support from the people for his party in the upcoming assembly polls.
He garlanded a statue of Ahilyabai Holkar, a former queen of the kingdom of Malwa, in front of the historic Rajwada Palace of the erstwhile Holkar dynasty. Shah also offered prayers at a Mahalaxmi temple located in the vicinity.
The BJP chief launched the campaign from a famous paan shop in Rajwada and its owner offered a paan to Shah. Standing on the footboard of his vehicle, Shah greeted the people gathered in the area and then travelled from Rajwada Palace to Krishnapura Chhatri, covering a distance of about half-a-kilometer.
Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, who is the BJP MP from Indore, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and other senior party leaders remained present. The mass contact programme will cover the Malwa-Nimad region of western Madhya Pradesh, an area considered a BJP bastion.
Later, addressing a huge gathering in Jhabua, Shah said that his party had ensured that government funds reached the tribals and forest-dwellers. He observed that under Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's government, people of this area could now afford motorcycles.
"The Congress will come, Rahul baba (Rahul Gandhi) will come. They will talk about everything, but development. They will talk about caste, religion. But whenever they come to power, they take money meant for the forest-dwellers to their own homes...The BJP ensures that the money meant for them reaches their (forest-dwellers') homes," Shah said.
The Congress ruled Madhya Pradesh for 55 years, but development did not reach Jhabua, he added, adding, “After getting off the helicopter, I was surprised to see that during Shivraj Singh Chouhan's tenure, people are riding motorcycles.”