Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s Jan Ashirwad Yatra in Ujjain which started on July 14 came to a sudden halt on Thursday. According to an earlier plan, the yatra was to cover 230 Assembly constituencies of the state, but it could only manage to cover 187 constituencies.
BJP state in-charge Dharmendra Pradhan signalled the end of yatra, undertaken in a well-equipped customised vehicle, in Jabalpur on Thursday.
It may be recalled that Chouhan took out similar yatras ahead of elections in 2008 and 2013 and had no hiccups then in completing the yatras. Both the yatras concluded on September 25, BJP ideologue Deendayal Upadhyay birth anniversary.
As an explanation for the abrupt end of the yatra, BJP furnished an excuse that’s hard to digest. The saffron party’s logic was that the Chief Minister needed time for the distribution of tickets as the Assembly election is nearing and that Chouhan couldn’t afford to spend time on the yatra at this juncture.
However, another BJP leader Prabhat Jha made it clear that the yatra would be completed and it would cover the rest of the constituencies ahead of the elections.
Congress though threw a jibe at the BJP saying that poor response from people actually was the reason behind calling off yatra halfway.
“Initially, the BJP was asking government employees, patwaris and accredited social health activists (ASHA) to attend the yatra. Once the model code of conduct came into force, these people started giving the yatra a miss due to poll duties. Also, angry farmers were flooding the CM with their demands and party infighting came to the fore during the yatra. All of this forced the CM to call off the yatra before it was scheduled to end,” Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Kamal Nath was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.
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