Shivraj Chouhan Developed Bundelkhand, Congress Ignored It: Amit Shah

BJP president Amit Shah alleged today that Congress governments ignored Bundelkhand, an impoverished region which is spread over Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

Mr Shah addressed campaign rallies at Tikamgarh, Damoh and Sagar in Bundelkhand ahead of the November 28 Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh.

Speaking in Tikamgarh, Mr Shah said, "There was a time when funds received for the development of Bundelkhand disappeared. Neither roads were constructed, nor were the schemes for hospitals and water supply implemented."

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan utilised the funds well to convert Bundelkhand into a developed region, he claimed.

In Uttar Pradesh, chief minister Yogi Adityanath has also kicked off development of Bundelkhand since the BJP came to power in that state, he said.

At the behest of Union minister Uma Bharti, Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved Ken-Betwa river-linking project for Bundelkhand, he said.

Crediting Bharti for ousting the Congress from power in MP in 2003, Shah noted that she hails from Bundelkhand. 

Addressing another rally at Damoh, Mr Shah said Congress president Rahul Gandhi will soon need to use binoculars to look for his party which is fast vanishing from the country. 

At a public meeting at Sagar in the region, he said, in apparent jibe at the roots of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, that Congress leaders wear "Italian spectacles" when talking about the surgical strikes conducted by the Army in 2016.

The GDP of Madhya Pradesh was "minus four per cent" when Digvijay Singh was chief minister, while under the BJP it has risen to ten per cent, he said.