Pachauri drums up Cong support in Budhni

Shahgunj, MP, May 1 (UNI) Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Suresh Pachauri today issued a clarion call to the Budhni electorate to repeat parliamentary history by voting against BJP nominee and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan for the state's betterment.

''The first instance was the defeat of Mr Kailash Nath Katju in 1962,'' he said while addressing a public meeting here to drum up support for Congress candidate Rajkumar Patel.

The gathering was also addressed by AICC General Secretary and former chief minister Digvijay Singh.

''Madhya Pradesh's BJP regime, which fielded three chief ministers within two years, has failed on every front and the instability pervading the saffron party makes it uncertain whether Mr Chouhan will continue to occupy his present post,'' Mr Pachauri alleged.

Taking a dig at senior BJP leader L K Advani's 'Bharat Suraksha Yatra', the minister said such endeavours had a history of boomeranging on BJP governments.

''In 1990, four such regimes were dismissed in the wake of the 'Ram Rath Yatra'. Likewise, the public negated the NDA government after the India Shining campaign in 2004,'' he added.

Mentioning firebrand sadhvi Uma Bharti's just-constituted Bharatiya Janashakti party, Mr Pachauri said the masses were confused as to what should be considered the true BJP.

''Mr Chouhan, who has been a people's representative for more than one-and-a-half decades, has hardly done anything for this area's development. This state's government has been unable to implement any employment-oriented or industrial development-related central scheme,'' he alleged.

Mr Singh said the BJP, which surged to power promising change, had entered a phase of disintegration.

''During Congress tenure, farmers and slum-dwellers were supplied free power,'' he added.

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