Uma Bharti backs Shivraj Chouhan's 'roads' claim

Union Minister Uma Bharti on Tuesday backed Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan for his statement on the roads of the United States.

Bharti said, "Shivraj ji was right, many roads in Madhya Pradesh are much better than those in the USA."

She also added that why is it presumed that the U.S. is better than India in every sense.

"For example, around 30 crore bank accounts are opened under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, which is probably equivalent to the population of the US. Isn't it unique?," Bharti questioned.

During his U.S. tour, Chouhan grabbed headlines when he said that the roads in Madhya Pradesh are better than of the U.S. roads.

On October 24, Chouhan, while addressing the U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum meeting, said, "When I got down at the Washington Airport and travelled on roads, I felt the roads in Madhya Pradesh are better than the United States."

He further added, "Few years back, MP was termed as a diseased state, but when I became the Chief Minister 12 years back then it was in my mind that without basic infrastructure no state can develop. Our first focus was on building the roads. Today, we have constructed around 1.75 lakh kilometer roads in the state and all the villages have been well-connected with roads."

Chouhan on Sunday re-emphasized that the roads in his state were actually better than that of Washington DC.

"I had gone (to United States) for branding of Madhya Pradesh and discussed good roads of the state there. I would like to re-emphasize that some of the roads in Madhya Pradesh are actually very good. Not just me, studies say that 92 percent roads of Washington DC are not in good condition," the Chief Minister told media in Bhopal.

Chouhan, who was earlier trolled for citing Madhya Pradesh's roads better than that of Washington DC, blamed the Congress party for politicising the issue.