Cong loses no-trust motion against C’garh Govt

The Congress has 34 members in the 90-member Assembly while the BJP has 52 members. The Nationalist Congress Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party have one member each, while two seats are lying vacant. Interestingly, 10 Congress legislators were found missing from the House when the voting took place and their absence is being blamed on the continued infighting and a struggle for power amongst various factions of the party.

Participating in the debate, the Congress members charged that a state of “anarchy” had been prevailing in the state under the BJP rule with numerous scams coming to light and the law and order situation deteriorating day by day. Deputy leader of Congress Legislature Party, Bhupesh Baghel, said there were several irregularities and corruption in the upgradation of road network, allocation of mines and state’s public distribution system. “Instead of streamlining the PDS, the Government continues to announce flawed policies like distributing rice to BPL families at Rs 3 per kg when such a provision already exists under the Antyodaya scheme,” Baghel said. He also demanded that the Government announce a bonus on the purchase of paddy. “If the Government is really serious about the welfare of farmers, it should introduce policies that benefit them and not the business community,” Baghel said.

However, Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh said that the Congress party was trying to mislead the people as they did not have any issues. The Chief Minister charged that the UPA Government at the Centre was to be blamed for curtailing Chhattisgarh’s share in power allocation, paddy and wheat quota meant for the public distribution system. “Instead of shouting against us, the Congress MLAs should accompany us to the national capital to seek a fair share for our state,” Raman Singh said.

Defending his Government, the Chief Minister said that the BJP Government had provided a democratic set-up where no one was afraid of voicing his opinion, unlike the previous Congress regime. He alleged that the previous Congress Government had scuttled all democratic norms and undermined the institutions. He also rejected Opposition allegation that the Government had unlawfully favoured some industries in the allocation of mines. Later, the Chief Minister gave a commitment on increasing the minimum support price for procurement of paddy.