Though the bypolls to three Assembly and one parliamentary seats in Madhya Pradesh have remained deferred due to COVID-19 situation, the ruling BJP continues to be in an election mode as Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan rolled out a three-day 'jan darshan' programme on Sunday.
Ex-chief minister Kamal Nath has attacked the chief minister for his selective outreach to people and said that Chouhan is up again to mislead people in bypolls bound areas by making false promises and announcements.
The three-day mass outreach programme of Chouhan started at Raigaon constituency in Satna district on Sunday with the chief minister taking a 23-km road route from Shivrajpur to Sinhpur in the constituency, covering 10 villages. He met people and resolved their issues on the way and also held a public meeting at Shivrajpur and small meetings in different villages.
Chouhan, in his typical style, interacted one-to-one with people even during public meetings and directed officials to complete development works in time. He made several announcements on construction of local roads, water supply schemes, electricity sub-stations, market places and others.
The CM said that eight lakh PM Aawas Yojana houses will be built in the state this year and free ration will be distributed to all poor and eligible people on 7th of every month. He said that though there is an economic crisis due to COVID-19 pandemic, he did not believe in crying for lack of funds like (ex-chief minister) Kamal Nath and his government even took loans to complete development and welfare works.
He is expected to perform foundation stone laying ceremonies for Rs 250 crores worth projects in Sinhpur at the conclusion of his daylong programme.
On Monday, Chouhan will conduct similar outreach programmes in Prithvipur of Niwari district and on Tuesday in Jobat of Alirajpur district.
Visit areas where people are facing real issues: Kamal Nath
Kamal Nath targeted the 'jan darshan' programme of Chouhan in a series of tweets. Nath said that the Congress has no issues with the CM conducting the ‘jan darshan’ programme and giving darshan (viewing) to people, but the programme is being conducted only in areas up by bypolls.
“It will be better if the CM also visits the areas where people are awaiting his presence impatiently. There is a need for him to visit places where people have died by consuming spurious liquor, but he is not doing so. Families of tribal victims of excesses in Nemawar, Neemuch and Khargone are awaiting his visit with a lot of hope. Many districts of the state have become hotspots for dengue and viral fever, hospitals are full and everyday the bad health services conditions are coming to the fore. The CM should visit such hospitals too. There have been mob lynching incidents in many places in the state, he should also conduct jan darshan there, but his programme remains limited to the bypolls bound areas,” Nath said in the tweets.
Meanwhile, a number of Youth Congress and NSUI activists who wanted to protest on the Satna helipad during CM's arrival were detained by the police on the way.
