Madhya Pradesh Elections: CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s ‘Jan Ashirwad Yatra’ ends, covers just 187 of 230 seats

BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan Thursday ended his ‘Jan Ashirwad Yatra’ midway in Jabalpur after covering just 187 of the 230 Assembly seats in the poll-bound state.

Chouhan had embarked on the yatra on July 14 from Ujjain on a bus modified as a chariot to seek blessings of the people and set the tone for a poll campaign to bring the BJP back to power for a fourth consecutive time.

At the time of its flagging off, the BJP had said that the yatra would cover all 230 Assembly constituencies with speeches scheduled in 475 places en route.

MP will go to polls on November 28 and counting of votes will be taken up on December 11. While the opposition Congress Friday ridiculed the development in a tweet put out by state unit chief Kamal Nath, the BJP sought to downplay the development by stating that no culmination date was decided for the yatra.

BJP vice president Prabhat Jha told PTI that no date for the yatra’s culmination had been decided, adding that Chouhan during the poll campaign would visit constituencies not covered in the yatra.

Jha said that Chouhan also had to attend party meetings in connection with the polls. Madhya Pradesh BJP spokesperson Rajnish Agrawal said the yatra was supposed to end on September 25, coinciding with the birth anniversary of BJP ideologue Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya.

It was extended but no conclusion date had been fixed, he added. Agrawal said that CM also had to take part in meetings to select candidates and accompany them when they file nominations, as well as take part in campaigning.

Meanwhile, the BJP’s yatra ending in this manner attracted ridicule from Congress state chief Kamal Nath.

In a tweet Friday, Nath said, “It (yatra) was devoid of public, of government sponsored crowd and faced protest.

The BJP itself now started deserting it the old speeches (of Chouhan), no work, just promises of doing this and that, false dream and assurance (did not work).

Public understood all this. ” Incidentally, Chouhan’s earlier yatras, just ahead of the Assembly polls in 2008 and 2013, had culminated on September 25 and on those occasions too he had not covered all the 230 seats in the state.

The BJP is facing a resurgent Congress in MP with opinion polls predicting a close finish between the two national parties, some of them giving the Congress an edge.

Senior BJP leaders have earlier said that the party was planning to not give tickets to 70-80 MLAs in order to tide over anti-incumbency.

The CM’s yatra itself saw unsavoury events like stones being thrown at his vehicle, black flags being shown as well as footwear flung during one of his gatherings in Sidhi district. In several areas, people complained to Chouhan about the poor performance of sitting MLAs as well.