Congress ex-president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday gave a huge boost to the morale of party cadre in Madhya Pradesh, saying that he can give in writing that Congress will sweep the state in the next elections and BJP will be seen nowhere.
“I can guarantee this, you can write this down and show it to me at that time (after poll results),” Gandhi said during his press conference in New Delhi as part of his Bharat Jodo Yatra.
“There is no question that the BJP will not be seen anywhere there (MP). I had thought and said that we got very good response in Maharashtra, but there is total undercurrent in Madhya Pradesh, there is (Congress) storm out there,” Gandhi said.
Giving basis for his confidence, Gandhi further said that in Madhya Pradesh every person knows that BJP has formed the government ‘by theft’ and using money, so the entire state was in anger. He was referring to the formation of the BJP government in March 2020 after about two dozen Congress MLAs jumped ship to BJP in leadership of Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia leading to the collapse of 15-month Congress government in the state.
Gandhi’s statements came in reply to a question on lack of response to the yatra in Madhya Pradesh in context that state Congress MLA Laxman Singh (ex-CM Digvijaya Singh’s brother) had questioned the senior leadership of the party citing media reports of poor performance of sitting MLAs in a reported internal survey by MP Congress chief Kamal Nath.
Nath himself had responded to this on Twitter on Friday. Without mentioning Singh, he had said that the media reports on a so-called survey by the Congress party were baseless and misleading as the party had not conducted any such survey. He also said each Congress worker was working with full strength and Congress will post a win in Madhya Pradesh with an overwhelming majority. He added that according to initial estimation, the party will get a minimum of 150 seats in the upcoming Assembly polls. The MP Assembly has 230 seats and the majority mark is 116.
The state will be going to polls in November 2023 and while Rahul Gandhi’s statement is certain to pep the Congress leaders and cadre up, it has expectedly pricked the BJP.
State minister and government spokesperson Vishvas Sarang termed Gandhi’s prediction as ‘Mungerilal ke haseen sapne’ (baseless dreams). He said that Rahul speaks of farms standing in a barn and talks of barn standing in farms. “Only 48 hours ago Congress MLA Laxman Singh (ex-CM Digvijaya Singh’s brother) revealed that according to Kamal Nath’s internal survey Congress was in a very poor position in the state. Doesn’t Rahul Gandhi have any knowledge of this survey or the situation? It is Rahul Gandhi’s habit to give scripted statements,” Sarang said.
The minister further said that before giving such statements, Rahul Gandhi should give answer on the failed promise of waiving Rs 2 lakh loan of farmers and giving allowance to unemployed youth. “He should stop having dreams and talk practically. Rahul Gandhi says he will give in writing (about Congress sweep), I challenge him to write two sentences without asking anyone,” Sarang said.