Opposition alliance like wedding preparations without a groom: Chouhan


PTI | Kolkata | Updated: 07-02-2019 18:50 IST | Created: 07-02-2019 18:50 IST
Opposition alliance like wedding preparations without a groom: Chouhan

Calling the opposition parties' efforts to forge an alliance to take on the BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls a futile exercise without a prime ministerial candidate, senior leader of the saffron party Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday said it was like getting ready for a wedding without knowing who was the groom. The BJP national vice-president and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister said the proposed opposition alliance was devoid of any principle, intention or leader, while claiming that the saffron party would win 300 seats in the general election, expected to take place in April-May.

He also took a swipe at the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party electoral tie-up in Uttar Pradesh and said it was not clear who had prevailed over whom -- SP chief Akhilesh Yadav or BSP supremo Mayawati -- to form the alliance. "Only the hands have come together, but not the hearts," Chouhan told a press conference at the West Bengal BJP headquarters here, while alleging that alliances were being forged only to serve the interests of opposition leaders and not on the basis of any idealism.

He asserted that the BJP would improve its tally from the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and the NDA would win 400 seats this time. "The opposition does not have any principle, intention or leader, while in our case, all these are in front of the world," Chouhan said.

He added that the "incohesive" opposition alliance was like a wedding, where preparations were done for the party and even the bridegroom's horse was decked up, but nobody knew who would be the groom (prime minister). Chouhan also dismissed the opposition allegations that the ED summoning Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's husband Robert Vadra or the CBI action against the Kolkata police commissioner had links to the upcoming polls, saying the probes in the related cases were launched long back and the summonses being issued now was incidental.

He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was being wrongly accused of vindictiveness. Chouhan alleged that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was standing by a police officer now, but she did not shed tears for the poor people who had lost their money in the chit fund scam or for those who had committed suicide after being rendered penniless.

"Despite the poor people's sufferings, you (Banerjee) did not sit on a dharna. When your party's (Trinamool Congress) leaders and MPs were arrested, you did not think of sitting on a dharna. But when the CBI reached the residence of a police commissioner, who is required for assistance in a probe, you opted for a sit-in," he said. It was unprecedented that an elected head of state sat on a dharna for a police commissioner and police officers also joined the demonstration, Chouhan added.

"If the officers are there for providing security, do they sit or stand? Or, do they come wearing uniforms or civil clothes?," he asked. Chouhan alleged that the TMC government in the state was throttling democracy and making a mockery of the Constitution by preventing opposition leaders from holding public meetings.

"The Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls were held recently. There was not a single incident of violence or booth capturing, while more than 100 people died during the panchayat election in Bengal," he alleged. Chouhan claimed that Trilochan Mahato, a 20-year-old man from Purulia district, was hanged before the local body polls as he was a BJP worker.

Mahato's body was found hanging from a tree under the Balarampur police station limits in Purulia district on May 30, 2017 after the rural polls. The BJP had claimed that he was a party member and an unsigned, handwritten note in Bengali found near the body said he was "punished for working for the BJP" during the rural polls. Chouhan alleged that West Bengal began to slide in terms of development during the 30-year Congress rule (1947-1977), while violence was brought into the state's politics during the 34-year Left Front rule (1977-2011).

"During the current TMC rule, the state is suffering from poverty, violence and syndicate raj," he alleged. Chouhan accused the TMC government of trying to create impediments for Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah's meetings and preventing Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath from holding rallies by refusing permission to land his helicopter.

He, however, thanked Banerjee for not giving permission for his helicopter to land, saying he got an opportunity to travel by road and could interact with people who were disillusioned with the TMC rule. Chouhan was scheduled to address two public meetings on Wednesday, but could attend only one at Kharagpur. A scheduled public meeting at Baharampur had to be cancelled as the district administration did not give permission to land his helicopter.

He claimed that the opposition was talking of a Grand Alliance, but its constituents were afraid of Modi's rule. "What kind of a Grand Alliance is this, where (Congress chief) Rahul Gandhi and Mamata Banerjee talk of going together, while the state unit of the Congress is opposed to the TMC," he said, claiming that he had also learnt about the CPI(M) and Congress coming closer now.

At a public meeting at Panihati in North 24 Parganas on the outskirts of the city, Chouhan described the proposed opposition alliance as "coming together of corrupt persons".

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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