The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has jumped into the poll fray on the back of a ‘pro-incumbency’ factor working for the party in Chhattisgarh, BJP National vice president and In-charge JP Nadda said on Tuesday.
The next five years for the BJP would be to consolidate its gains in Chhattisgarh which had resulted from the faith of people in the ruling party and their aspirations, he said in a News conference here. Nadda said that BJP’s target would be to consolidate its development gains and put Chhattisgarh ahead of the frontline States in the country during the coming years. This Government (ruling party) in Chhattisgarh had remained corruption free and will remain so in future, he claimed.
Commenting on former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi’s return to the mainstream Chhattisgarh politics during the Assembly polls, Nadda remarked,”The Congress party had been moving ‘tactically’ in Chhattisgarh. First the party sidelined Jogi and then brought him back to the mainstream politics.”
He further maintained : “Till 2003, the Congress regime under Jogi was that of fear, hunger and corruption which later transformed into a decade of corruption free Government and that of development during the BJP rule.”
Nadda said that Jogi had lead the Congress party in 2003 and was again ‘indirectly’ leading the party in 2008. The people of Chhattisgarh know the Congress’ designs and the ‘backdoor’ entry of Jogi into the mainstream politics was also known to the people of the State.’
The people of Chhattisgarh have not forgotten the regime of crime and corruption during the Congress rule in Chhattisgarh, he said. Regarding two ‘Food Security laws’ one that of the Centre and the other of Chhattisgarh coming into play for implementation, Nadda said that the BJP would take the spirit of the Centre’s Food Security law and keep following Chhattisgarh’s implementation of its Food Security law.
On the issue of resignation of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s niece Karuna Shukla from the primary membership of the party, Nadda remarked: “The BJP does not follow a dynastic system. We are talking to her and will solve the problem.” To a query on insurgency in Bastar region, he said that Naxalism had in fact declined in Chhattisgarh since 2003 and is now confined to only Bastar while moving away from Sarguja, Jashpur, Balrampur and Surajpur districts.
Commenting on the serial bomb blasts which took place in Patna during the ‘Hunkar’ rally of BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, Nadda said that it was a total security failure on part of the Nitish Kumar Government in Bihar which led to the incident. Narendra Modi is BJP’s popular prime ministerial candidate of the country and both the Centre and the Nitish Kumar Government should have taken greater care in ensuring security during his rally in Patna, he said.
On the current level of resentment among ticket aspirants who were denied a chance for contesting Assembly polls in Chhattisgarh, Nadda commented: “The BJP had been in power in Chhattisgarh for the past two terms and since the ticket aspirants and the people know that the party would be in power once again, they have aspirations of contesting the polls.”