BJP has no issues in Chhattisgarh, polarisation only resort: Jairam Ramesh

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday said the BJP had no issues to talk about in poll-bound Chhattisgarh, and was banking only on polarisation to get votes in the assembly elections.

The state's people will not accept the BJP's divisive ideology, he said at a news conference in Rajiv Bhavan. “The BJP is without any issues in Chhattisgarh. It does not have any issues to raise except (those which can create) polarisation. The speeches made in the state by the home minister and Assam chief minister only had polarisation (as their objective),” he alleged.

The Congress submitted a memorandum to the Election Commission of India seeking action against Union home minister Amit Shah and Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for their statements during the campaign rallies in Chhattisgarh, and the poll body served a notice to Sarma, Ramesh said.

The ECI last week issued a show-cause notice to Sarma for remarks targeting Chhattisgarh minister Mohammad Akbar.

Ramesh claimed that other BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, will come to the state "with the same mindset to encourage polarisation", and added that the Congress would not be scared of this strategy.

"The BJP and RSS believe in divisive politics and try to divide people on the basis of religion, caste and language to disturb communal harmony and to garner votes. They are doing the same thing in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Whatever happened in Manipur is the result of the same divisive politics," the Congress leader said.

Exuding confidence about the Congress retaining power in Chhattisgarh in the two-phase elections to be held on 7 and 17 November, Ramesh said the people will reject the BJP's "ideology of polarisation". He also alleged that PM Modi and Shah were misleading people by stating that the Nagarnar Steel Plant in the state will not be privatised.

The prime minister had recently inaugurated this NMDC unit in Bastar. The prime minister cannot tell the truth "even by mistake", Ramesh quipped.

“The Centre is busy selling the Nagarnar Steel Plant but now the PM and home minister have said it will not be privatised. If they get a chance they will even privatise the Bhilai Steel Plant (in Durg district of Chhattisgarh). Public assets are being privatised, and I don't want to get into in whose favour they are being privatised. The Balco plant in Korba was privatised during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. The Centre's policy of privatisation is not in the interest of the people of Chhattisgarh,” the former Union minister said.

Ramesh also claimed that Chhattisgarh was bearing the brunt of irregular operations of trains. Train cancellations and delays happen most frequently in the state as priority is being given to goods trains transporting coal for the benefit of private companies, he said.

The Congress has so far given 17 poll guarantees to the people in Chhattisgarh, and one of them — procurement of 20 quintals of paddy per acre — is being implemented from Wednesday itself, Ramesh said.