BJP will retain power with record mandate, Shivraj Chouhan

Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday claimed that BJP would retain power in the state with a record mandate in the year-end assembly polls.

Mr Chouhan said that his assessment was based on the ‘enthusiastic’ response to the ongoing ‘Jan Ashirwad Yatra’, mass outreach programme launched by BJP on September three, from the people across the state.

“The Jan Ashirwad Yatra is evoking unprecedented enthusiastic response from the people across the state. I could gauge the pulse of the people during the yatra. I can now say with confidence that it will be the biggest victory of the party in the forthcoming assembly elections in the state”, Mr Chouhan said while addressing party workers here.

The chief minister said that the yatra was hailed by the people wherever it passed. He has never seen such enthusiasm from the people towards the yatra of the party.

BJP launched five yatras from different parts of the state over four days from September three.

All the yatra are scheduled to converge here on September 25, coinciding with the birth anniversary of BJP ideologue Deendayal Upadhyaya.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to address a BJP rally here on the day.

According to a party spokesman here, BJP’s mass outreach programme has so far covered around two crore people in the state.

Leading the yatra in Budhni, currently represented by chief minister Mr Chouhan, Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Friday claimed that BJP would form the government with two third majority in the year-end Madhya Pradesh assembly elections.

He said that in the earlier assembly elections, only one yatra used to be launched ahead of the polls in the state by BJP.

But, this time it was decided to launch five yatras in order to cover the entire population in the state, he added.

Opposition Congress however dismissed the claim by the two senior BJP leaders, saying that they were ‘day dreaming’.

Congress is going to form the government with full majority in the upcoming assembly elections in the state, Congress spokesman K K Mishra said.