Nehrugaon, NOV 21 :
Locked in a pitched electoral battle against Madhya Pradesh’s three-time Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Congress candidate Arun Yadav has said he is fighting a “devil” in Budhni and accused him of cheating people of his constituency and of the entire state by perpetrating “maximum atrocities”.
Yadav, the former state president of his party, said there was no second thought that the Congress is fighting a big battle in the state to regain power after sitting out for 15 long years, but he has full faith in winning against Chouhan.
The ruling BJP leaders have dismissed claims made by Congress leaders that there has not been enough development in Budhni, known as the chief minister’s bastion. The saffron party have countered the Congress’s allegations by saying that the state has seen maximum development during the last 15 years, as against what was done during the Congress rule before that.
BJP leaders have said that Yadav has been made a ‘sacrificial lamb’. Earlier, Chouhan had also taken a dig at the Congress for fielding Yadav against him, saying the grand-old party has done “injustice” to his “friend” — first by removing him from the post of state unit president and then by giving him ticket from Budhni.
Yadav, however, said it was a privilege for him that he was chosen by his party for this contest against someone who is the face of the BJP’s entire campaign for the November 28 elections for 230 assembly seats.
“This was a call from my boss Rahul Gandhi (Congress President). And I think the objective of my coming here is to give a sense to the electorate in Budhni that we can fight this,” Yadav told PTI in an interview during his campaign tour in a constituency that has come to be known as Chouhan’s pocket borough for repeatedly electing him.
“I call him (Chouhan) a devil. My party pitched me against him and I think it’s a privilege for me. People are responding and that is the best part,” the 44-year-old Congress leader and son of the state’s former deputy chief minister Subhash Yadav said.
Asked further about his description of the chief minister as a “devil”, Yadav said he has reasons to say so. “Madhya Pradesh is the only state in India where women are not safe, where the number of suicides of farmers is highest and in Sehore (Budhni district headquarters) it is the highest.
