BJP vs Congress: War of words is hotting up in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh

MP Congress chief Kamal Nath promised to "expose" Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan through 40 questions in as many days ahead of the Assembly elections

The war of words is heating up in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh. This weekend, Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Kamal Nath promised to “expose” Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan through 40 questions in as many days ahead of the Assembly elections. He said the “poor state” of the health care sector was his first challenge to the Bharatiya Janata Party government. He followed up his threat with a series of tweets demonstrating the lack of facilities, staff and health care expenditure in MP. Expectedly, the CM retaliated on Twitter: “These days, my Congress friends are mentioning me much more than themselves and their colleagues. An old adage fits here aptly ‘When your opponents start chanting your name more than their names, you must understand you are on the right path’.”

A friend in need?

Bharatiya Janata Party's Patna Sahib Member of Parliament Shatrughan Sinha set tongues wagging last week after he went pandal hopping on the occasion of Durga puja with Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and Lalu Prasad's son Tejashwi Prasad Yadav. After the sojourn, Sinha was all praise for Tejashwi. Dubbing him “the future of Bihar”, he said, wherever the two went, Tejashwi received an electrifying welcome. Tejashwi, who is also the leader of the Opposition in the state assembly, returned the compliment and said, while Sinha had served the BJP over many years there were some in the party who “did not want to see people speaking the truth”. Their camaraderie immediately set off speculation that Sinha was all set to sever ties with his party and contest the next Lok Sabha election on a Grand Alliance ticket.

Protest against statue

When the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Gujarat gears up to unveil the tallest statue in the world — that of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on October 31 — the state government might as well get ready to manage a protest being organised by local tribal organisations. An estimated 75,000 tribals, who have allegedly been adversely affected by the Statue of Unity project, plan to oppose the unveiling in the Narmada district. The tribal groups allege their land was taken away for the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Project near the statue site, as well as for the statue and a host of tourism-related activities in the area. Dubbing it their “non-cooperation movement”, the protesters are being supported by around 100 tribal organisations across the state.