Narendra Modi, Amit Shah 'hijacked' elected govt in Madhya Pradesh: Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi, November 14

Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah of “purchasing” his party’s MLAs and “stealing” the government in Madhya Pradesh.

Referring to the desertion of 22 MLAs that led to the collapse of the Kamal Nath government in 2020, Gandhi claimed the voice of the masses was “stifled” by the BJP.

In the 2018 Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, the Congress emerged as the single largest party with seat tally of 114. The Congress formed the government after taking support from the Independents. However, 15 months after Kamal Nath became the Chief Minister, the government collapsed due to the resignations of the MLAs. Later, the BJP formed a government with Shivraj Singh Chouhan as Chief Minister.

“Five years back, all of you elected the Congress for the government. You did not choose BJP. After that, BJP leaders – Narendra Modi, Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Amit Shah – purchased MLAs and stole the elected government of Madhya Pradesh,” Rahul Gandhi said in a poll rally in Madhya Pradesh’s Vidisha.

“By paying crores of rupees and buying MLAs of the Congress, your decision, the inner voice of your heart was assaulted by the BJP leaders, by the Prime Minister. You were cheated,” Gandhi said.

Rahul Gandhi said the Congress would drive away the BJP from Madhya Pradesh. “We chased the BJP from Karnataka. In Himachal Pradesh also, we chased them away. But we did not show any hatred.”

The Congress leader said his party would win between 145 and 150 out of the total 230 seats in Madhya Pradesh.