 "'You won't find a brother like me, you'll miss me', says Shivraj Chouhan")
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Sunday stated that he had changed the definition of politics in Madhya Pradesh by providing a government that cared for the people, and that he would be missed when he was not around.
The chief minister referred to the constituents as his family and the women as his sisters.
"For me, politics means serving the public, and serving the public is like worshipping God. I changed the definition of politics in Madhya Pradesh. Our poor brothers and sisters, farmer brothers and sisters, you have witnessed the rule of Congress for years. Tell me, was there ever such concern for the public? What used to happen...? I don't run the government. I run a family. You all are my family," Chouhan said at a meeting in MP's Sehore district.
"You will not find such a brother. You will miss me when I am gone," he added.
Congress interpreted the chief minister's emotional speech as an allusion to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s reluctance to name him as the party's chief ministerial candidate.
For now, the BJP has said that the election will be contested under the "collective leadership" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Chouhan.
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Congress leaders interpreted Chouhan's remarks as an acknowledgement that his party had sidelined him.
"The truth has come out. Shivraj Ji, now that you yourself have accepted that we will miss you a lot after you are gone… You will definitely be remembered for scams, corruption, false — never-fulfilling declarations, atrocities, and other irregularities," MP Congress Committee state media in-charge KK Mishra was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.
Slamming Chouhan, former Chief Minister and veteran Congress leader Kamal Nath said, "the people of the state will remember his [Shivraj Singh Chouhan] lies and failed promises."
MP BJP spokesperson Hitesh Vajpayee said the Congress leaders were trying to give the chief minister’s emotional outreach to people a spin.
“Shivraj ji was talking with his family members, and he got emotional that we won’t get a brother like him. This is true that nobody can be like Shivraj. But Congress leaders are getting happy after listening to this emotional speech and trying to give it a wrong spin. They don’t know that their dreams will not come true in this election,” said Vajpayee.
“Shivraj ji was talking with his family members, and he got emotional that we won’t get a brother like him. This is true that nobody can be like Shivraj. But Congress leaders are getting happy after listening to this emotional speech and trying to give it a wrong spin. They don’t know that their dreams will not come true in this election,” said Vajpayee.