Surjewala: In 18 years BJP brought MP to the brink of ruin, fear of Cong haunts it

A day after the BJP released its second list of 39 candidates for Madhya Pradesh, the Congress took a swipe at it, saying that in 18 years it has brought the state to the brink of ruin and the people as well as the central leadership of the saffron party know this, and it is the reason why Prime Minister Narendra Modi distanced himself from the works of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

It also said that it was clear how the fear of Congress was haunting the BJP.

In a post on X in Hindi, Congress Madhya Pradesh in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala said, "The truth of BJP's second list in Madhya Pradesh -- will go down and will also take you along. In 18 years, the BJP government has brought Madhya Pradesh to the brink of ruin. The people of the state as well as the central leadership of BJP know this. That is why 15 days ago Amit Shah and yesterday Modi ji distanced themselves from the name and work of Shivraj ji."

"On the other hand, (Jyotiraditya) Scindia ji was also disappointed with his Lok Sabha defeat and the continuous defeat of local bodies in his area. Both the leaders just thought and made up their mind to eliminate all their rivals. Shivraj and Maharaj (Scindia) told the central leadership that the rudder of the sinking boat of power in Madhya Pradesh now needs Narendra Tomar, Prahlad Patel, Faggan Singh Kulaste, Kailash Vijayvargiya and Rakesh Singh," Surjewala said.

"But in reality, the intention of Shivraj and Maharaj is that 'we will go down and take you along', this is clear. Kailash Vijayvargiya also said in an interview that the central leadership surprised us by giving us the ticket. After the announcement of these tickets, Maharaj and Shivraj are saying, 'There will be no bamboo and no flute'. That means, our power is going away, but along with us, the political existence of these leaders will also end," he said.

"It is clear how the fear of Congress haunts the BJP. See the fear of the personality of (Congress president Mallikarjun) Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, Kamal Nath ji, see the anger of the brave people of Madhya Pradesh. A Chief Minister, three Union Ministers including seven MPs, a National General Secretary, but still power will not be saved. Raise your hand, First Madhya Pradesh, then the whole country. Congress is coming," he added.

His remarks came after the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had sprung a surprise by fielding three Union ministers along with four other sitting MPs, including Narendra Singh Tomar, for the upcoming Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh.

The second list of 39 candidates was released on Monday, 25 September, hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a rally in Bhopal.

The list also includes the name of BJP's national General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya from Indore-1. 

The list of 39 candidates released by the party includes the names of three Union ministers -- Minister of State for Food Processing Industries and Jal Shakti, Prahlad Singh Patel, from Narsinghpur; Agriculture Minister and the party’s state election management committee head Tomar from Dimni-Morena; and Minister of State for Rural Development and Steel, Fagan Singh Kulaste from Niwas.

Four other Lok Sabha members -- Ganesh Singh from Satna, Riti Pathak from Sidhi, Rakesh Singh from Jabalpur-West, and Uday Pratap Singh from Gadarwara -- are in the fray for the upcoming Assembly elections.