“After a long rule, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Chhattisgarh is in fatigue”, said leader of Opposition in the Chhattisgarh Assembly T.S. Singhdeo.
"Its indecisiveness and rolling back the decisions of the State Cabinet like land Revenue Code regarding tribal land acquisition, installation of mobile towers from Panchayat funds are a few examples to be cited here to testify its tiredness”, he said.
Talking exclusively to The Pioneer, Singhdeo while talking about prospects of Congress party in the upcoming Assembly elections slated a few months from now, admitted that the party will have to work hard to achieve the goal of forming the next Government in the State.
In the previous assembly elections we were behind only by 95,000 votes in the 90 assembly constituencies, he said.
But, this was all about old figures and we have to go to a different poll turf with having different issues and different factors, Singhdeo said.
However, there are fair chances of our success in the upcoming elections. “People are fed up with the BJP rule and the government has lost its credibility. The reasons in urban and rural areas are different”, he said.
The urban populace of the state is angry with the BJP over enforcement of Goods and Service Tax (GST) and demonetization. While in the rural areas, the people are not happy with the BJP because of its failure in fulfilling promises made in the election manifesto, Singhdeo said.
The Minimum Support Price (MSP) of paddy and its bonus as promised was not fulfilled. They were promised of giving ‘Jersey’ cow, 35 Kgs of rice and also for providing employment to unemployed, but all the promises turned to be hollow, he said.
Apart from those there is also resentment in the rural populace about lack of health facilities and poor road network, he added.
Regarding unrest among tribals in Northern Chhattisgarh, Singhdeo said all that was happening was because that the government was not properly following the provisions made in the fifth schedule and PESA law.
On views that there were no CM faces in the Congress party with a stature like that of BJP’s Chief Minister Raman Singh, Singhdeo said before being named as a CM candidate, no one is in much limelight. No one even imagined of Ajit Jogi as the first Chief Minister in 2000 and Raman Singh in 2003.
When the time will come the Congress legislature party will elect their leader who will be acceptable to all and will gain the required stature, he added.