My work will bring me to power again: Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Madhya Pradesh CM
People will vote on development and not a face, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan told ET in an interview, taking a swipe at Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia for posters in Guna projecting himself as the next chief minister when his party has yet to take a decision on declaring a CM candidate ahead of the assembly election due this year. He said farmers in the state are happy with the deficit payment scheme Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana and dismissed the Congress’ allegations of corruption in the scheme. Edited excerpts…
After more than 12 years as CM, what makes you confident that you will come to power again in this year’s polls?
To be honest, I have not yet thought about coming to power again. What I have thought about so far in my term is how to properly implement the road map I have drawn for development and welfare of people. The truth is that people vote on performance, especially when there is an incumbent government. If you perform better, you will come to power. Many states are examples of that. This is a very positive sign and I feel that due to the body of work we have done, from infrastructure to irrigation, there can be no stopping the BJP from coming to power again. The state has grown from 7.5 lakh hectares of irrigated land to 40 lakh hectares as on date – every year we add four-five lakh hectares. See our road network – there was nothing in the name of roads when I took over. We are a power surplus state – there is no shortage of electricity. Our agricultural growth is 20% plus for five years. It is one thing to reach 20% and quite another to maintain it year after year, which we have done. Mine is a poor-welfare agenda – attending to their roti, kapda, makaan, likhai, padhai, dawai (food, clothing, housing, education, healthcare) and rozgar (employment). Our work for farmers, the old and for women empowerment also speaks on its own. It is for these reasons that I am confident that we will again get the love and confidence in the assembly elections this year.
