Bharat Jodo Yatra to unite whom? Cong and Pandit Nehru divided India: MP CM

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan accused former Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and the Congress of 'dividing' the country

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Sunday accused former Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and the Congress of 'dividing' the country and wanted to know whom the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' led by Rahul Gandhi was aimed at unifying.

He also expressed confidence that the BJP is going to come to power once again in Karnataka.

"On one side there is Narendra Modi who is working for the country and on the other side there is Rahul baba (Rahul Gandhi) who is doing Bharat Jodo Yatra. Mr Rahul Gandhi, do tell us- who did the 'thodo' (divided) of India? In 1947 with an urge to get power at the earliest, if someone divided the country it was Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and the Congress," Chouhan said.

Addressing BJP's backward classes mega rally here, he said, Congress people are those who divided India, but today are talking about Bharat Jodo (unifying India).

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, state BJP strongman and parliamentary board member B S Yediyurappa, state President Nalin Kumar Kateel, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi were among several leaders present at the rally.

Further noting that in India, on one side there is the BJP where a person from a very ordinary family can become the Prime Minister of the country, the MP Chief Minister said, while on the other hand there is Congress which is a party of one family.

Pointing out that the Congress is now boasting about making Mallikarjun Kharge its President, he said the veteran leader is just a "sacrificial lamb".

"Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are well aware that the Congress will be finished off anytime, they can't win elections, so they have made Kharge the President, to make him a sacrificial lamb," he alleged.

At a time when Congress is speaking about Bharat Jodo, the partymen are in a mood for 'Congress Chodo' (quit Congress), Chouhan said, look at the whole of India, the grand old party is nowhere and what remains is, its smaller groups or factions

In Karnataka, too Congress is a divided house with one faction led by D K Shivakumar (KPCC chief), the other by Siddaramaiah (CLP leader) and another under Mallikarjun Kharge, he added.

Questioning what the Congress has done for the welfare of the OBC communities, Chouhan said it was governments under former PMs Morarji Desai, V P Singh, which had BJP leaders in it, good things started happening for the community, and it was under PM Modi, who gave constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC).

He also highlighted the OBC community getting higher reservation in education and enhanced budgetary allocations under the BJP government in the state and the Centre.

Further noting that he feels proud of the way at which India is progressing under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chouhan said when Congress' atrocities and injustice increased, Modi came as a "blessing" from god.

He said world leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden are today praising Modi and his leadership, and the country is proud of him.

The MP CM also praised the Bommai government in Karnataka for bringing in anti- conversion legislation, as he hit out at the Congress for opposing it and for having supported the now banned PFI, while in power.