MP: In 18 years, 22k announcements of CM Chouhan remain unfulfilled, claims Kamal Nath

Madhya Pradesh Congress president Kamal Nath on Friday said 22,000 announcements of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in the last 18 years remain unfulfilled and alleged corruption had hollowed out the state.

Speaking to reporters, Nath said Chouhan was making announcement at double speed ahead of Assembly polls, likely to be held at the end of the year. Chouhan has been chief minister of the state since November 2005, except for a brief period between December 2018 and March 2020.

"Probably, he (Chouhan) is thinking that by making announcements, all his sins will be washed away. Corruption, like termites, has eaten up the state. They (Bharatiya Janata Party government) have made the state hollow in all spheres, be it education, health, employment, law and order," Nath alleged.

MP has a debt of Rs 3.30 lakh crore and the state government was now forced to borrow just to pay interest.

The borrowings are not used for development, but to award contracts and obtain commission on them, the senior Congress leader and former CM alleged.

Nath claimed Congress workers were being implicated in false cases and warned such pressure politics does not work for long as "the day after tomorrow (alluding to a regime change) always comes".

He said Harsud town, which was displaced and is now known as Chanera, was one of the most developed places in the state 40 years ago but had since lagged in the race of development.

"It was a symbol of development and a centre for trade, but today tribals are forced to leave this place and it has become a capital of migration, corruption, malnutrition and illegal excavation in the state," Nath said of Harsud.

If voted to power, the Congress will bring a policy for welfare of displaced persons and resolve issues of land lease as well as other problems faced by them, Nath promised.