Congress hopes to wrest power in MP, citing corruption

New Delhi, Nov 25 (UNI) Taking on the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh ahead of the state assembly elections, the All India Congress Committee today charged it with corruption, poor governance, law and order breakdown and communalisation.

AICC General Secretary Veerappa Moily told mediapersons that the Congress would wrest Madhya Pradesh after the elections as the people were conviened that the "corruption-ridden" BJP government could not fulfil their aspirations.

"News reaching from various surveys points to the fact that the Congress would be in a position to get at least 125 to 130 seats," he said, while claiming that his party had improved its position dramatically in the last ten days.

"The elections which was said to be evenly poised about a week back has now completely tilted in Congress favour." He said there was a huge crowd at the rallies addressed by Congress President Sonia Gandhi and AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi.

Accusing the Shivraj Singh Chauhan government of all round failure, Mr Moily said the growth rate in the state had come down to 3.5 per cent as compared to the national figure of 8 per cent. The state's liabilities now stood at Rs 58,846 crore, two times the figure in 2004.

Asserting that Madhra Pradesh had earned the notoriety in becoming one of the worst states in terms of law and order, he said the state had registered a record 195,000 crimes in the last four years. The state also topped the list for inflicting atrocities on Adivasis and dalits.

In this context, he ridiculed BJP leader L K Advani for speaking about the failure of the UPA government in providing physical security.

Mr Moily said corruption was so deep rooted that cases were pending before the Lok Ayukta against at least 18 ministers. Three ministers had to resign following grave corruption charges.

He said there was not a single instance of communal clash during the last ten years of Congress rule in Madhya Pradesh. But there had been more than 136 cases of communal clashes and flare ups recorded in the BJP rule in the state in the last five years.

UNI SH RR HT1742