Shivraj Sees Congress Hand in Attack on BJP's Pre-poll Campaign

Bhopal: BJP’s Jan Ashirwad Yatra, a mass outreach campaign launched by the party in Madhya Pradesh three days ago ahead of the year-end assembly polls, was attacked in a village in Neemuch district in the state late on Tuesday night, triggering a political row here.

The yatra came under attack when it reached Rauli Kudi village, around 80 km from district headquarters of Neemuch, with a group of locals pelting stones at the convoy of the campaign, damaging three vehicles in the process.

The unruly villagers were protesting against the fencing of the Gandhi Sagar wildlife sanctuary being done by the forest department to develop it as the second home of cheetahs in the state after Kuno National Park.

Seven people were arrested in connection with the incident on Wednesday; state home minister Narottam Mishra said.

“All the seven arrested people belonged to Congress”, Mr Mishra said while suggesting that Congress had instigated the violence.

Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday also saw the hand of Congress in the incident.

“Kamal Nath ji had earlier warned of the yatra inviting stone pelting by people. This creates suspicion. I have ordered a probe into the incident. Action will be taken against those behind the incident”, he said.

Terming the incident as ‘manifestation of frustration in Congress due to growing public support to the yatra’, Mr Chouhan said that such provocative tactics by Congress would not succeed and BJP would win the year-end assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh handsomely.

He said that Madhya Pradesh politics has been decent and urged the Congress not vitiate the environment by resorting to such tactics.

Senior Congress leader and former chief minister Kamal Nath on Wednesday said that the stone pelting incident reflected the people’s anger against the state government for pursuing the ‘unfeasible’ cheetah project, threatening to rob the village land,  used for cattle grazing, from the villagers.