Journalism of Courage
With no display of any tension between them, Narendra Modi and Shivraj Singh Chouhan praised each other at rallies in Balaghat and Mandla on Friday. A week back, BJP leader L K Advani’s choice of seat had created tensions between the two chief ministers.
Modi credited Chouhan for single-handedly turning the state around by focusing on key areas like villages, agriculture, irrigation, roads and hospitals.
“If Chouhan could help Madhya Pradesh get rid of the ‘Bimaru’ tag all alone imagine the pace of development here when Modi joins hands with him (after becoming PM),” said Modi in Balaghat. “You help us win all seats in the state and I will repay with development,” the BJP’s PM candidate added.
Praising Chouhan’s vision and simplicity, Modi said former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the MP Chief Minister had launched several schemes for tribals, unlike the Congress or the UPA.
In the other rally at Mandla, it was Chouhan’s turn to say, “Only one man (Modi) can deliver. The whole country is looking at him with hope.” Accusing the Centre of discrimination, he said the state will develop at a faster rate when the BJP comes to power in Delhi.
At both places, Modi slammed the UPA and the Congress in his usual style and accused the Centre of creating hurdles in the development of states. “Politics has taken such a shape that reality is suppressed. Otherwise, the progress made by MP would have been talked of everywhere,” Modi said in Balaghat, stopping short of saying that Chouhan has not got his due at the national level.
Insisting that BJP-ruled states have delivered more than other parties, Modi said their performance will be written in gold. “That’s why they are winning elections repeatedly,” he said, referring to Gujarat, MP and Chhattisgarh.
In his speeches he made one reference to Rahul Gandhi as ‘shehzada’ and Chhindwara MP Kamal Nath as ‘nawab’. Without naming the latter, he accused Nath of failing to even get a radio station in Seoni.
“Seoni is not alone. Even in Kutch’s border areas one gets to watch Pakistani television channels and to listen Pakistani radio stations. I have got tired of telling the Centre to stop this but they are busy in 2G (scam). Seoni and seema (border) are not their priorities.”
Accusing the Congress of not believing in democracy, he said the oldest national party does not want to give an account of its work. “They have lost the right to rule India,” he said, adding, “They pretend to have come from Mars and start giving advice.”
