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BJP gears up for polls in Madhya Pradesh

PHOTO: A.M. Faruqui

BJP round-table: Senior BJP leader and Madhya Pradesh election in-charge M. Venkaiah Naidu along with BJP National General Secretaries Ramlal and Ananth Kumar (right), Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan and State BJP president Narendra Singh Tomar at the party’s State Election Committee meeting in Bhopal on Sunday.

BHOPAL: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader M. Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday said that Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan would soon embark on a “Jan Ashirvad Yatra” (journey) in the State to seek people’s blessings for the coming Assembly elections.

Mr. Naidu, along with party general secretaries Ananth Kumar and Ram Lal, attended meetings of various State party committees linked with the coming forthcoming elections during the day. Later addressing a press conference at the State BJP headquarters here, he was emphatic in pointing out that the Chief Minister’s Yatra would not be an official affair but shall be managed by the ruling BJP. The Yatra schedule would be announced soon.

The State BJP’s election manifesto would be released by September 15, Mr. Naidu said adding that for the coming Assembly election, they would go for an aggressive campaign. The campaign would highlight the achievements of 5-years of BJP rule against Congress party’s 50 years in power.

Regarding allotment of tickets, Mr. Naidu said that the list of candidates would be declared immediately after the poll-dates get announced. He also announced that the State BJP would organise a State-wide fund collection drive between August 23 and September 25 coinciding with the birth anniversary of Kushabhau Thakre and Deendayal Upadhyaya.Monday onwards, for the next three days, BJP leaders would court arrest in all State capitals on the Amarnath Shrine Board issue, Mr. Naidu said adding that there is only one solution to the current impasse, which has led to 30 days of unrest in Jammu.

The land that had earlier been allotted to the Amarnath Shrine Board will have to be returned to it, he asserted.

Lashing out at the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government at the Centre, Mr. Naidu said: “It owes an explanation to the people for the delay in calling the monsoon session of Parliament.” He added that it was for the first time in history of Indian Parliament that the monsoon session, which is normally called by the end of July or first week of August, had not been convened yet.

The BJP leader said: “It seems they [UPA] are afraid to face a discussion on the ‘cash for vote’ scam linked with the recent trust vote in Parliament.” He went on to allege that the UPA Government is also afraid that it would be confronted with questions on its failure to check galloping prices that have led to a record 11 per cent inflation.

“The ‘trinity’— Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister P. Chidambram and Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia — has no clue how to control inflation and appears helpless when it comes to facing this challenge,” Mr. Naidu observed.

Mr. Naidu said that the country was going through the worst ever agriculture crisis.

He added that there was an acute shortage of fertilizer and the farmers were committing suicide. Commenting upon the ineffective steps taken by the Centre, Mr. Naidu said that it had introduced its Urea Policy only after the end of the sowing season.Mr. Naidu said that the real issues before the country were the increasing prices and rising terrorist activities. He said that the Amarnath Shrine Board issue had reached a flash point and added that the delimitation of constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir was also an issue that needs to be addressed immediately.

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BJP gears up for polls in Madhya Pradesh

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