Raman Singh rebuffs Ajit Jogi's claim of having 'full support' of SCs

Rejecting Chhattisgarh Janata Congress founder Ajit Jogi's claim that he has got "full support" of the Scheduled Castes in Chhattisgarh, Chief Minister Raman Singh on Friday said by electing nine of the 10 MLAs and two Members of Parliament, the SC community has made it clear whom they support, and thus, he should introspect over the results of various elections.

"I won't say that the BJP has got the maximum support, but by electing nine of the 10 MLAs and two Members of Parliament, the society has made it clear whom they support, and that is why a person doesn't have right to claim that he has right over all votes. He should introspect over the results of various elections," he said.

When told that Jogi had accused his government of bringing Jogi castes under the Backward Castes' category because the BJP is afraid, the Chief Minister said, "Jogi and Nathjogi, who survived on alms, and live in three-four districts in the state, have been identified in 11 states of the country. So, he (Ajit Joigi) should afraid of it, not me. He first decided which caste he belongs to."

Talking about the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Central Government, he said: "We will have a meeting with the Union Tourism Minister (Mahesh Sharma), and we are preparing a project to make airlines operative in different regions to increase connectivity from Raipur to Jagdalpu and Raipur to Sarjuja."

Asked about the state coming down to second number in the cleanliness ranking, he said, "Our ranking is the best in India and we are working very well in making 'ODF'. I could not understand various yardsticks of cleanliness by we have put excellent work as far as ODF is concerned."

Speaking over the "Mul mantra" (main principle) that he shared with party workers for winning the 2018 elections, Singh said, "The mul mantra is that we need to prepare and connect every worker with government's projects so that people also get connected to those projects automatically."

Singh was interacting with reporters on the sideline of the BJP's SC/ST unit meeting here.