CM Chouhan hits back after Congress’ ‘nange-bhooke’ jibe

Amid the campaigning for by-elections, the chain of allegations and counter-allegations is also intensifying. Congress leader Dinesh Gurjar called Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan hungry and naked, and now the CM has given his answer. CM tweeted on Monday morning that I am from a bare-hungry family, so I understand his pain.

Bhopal: A day after a Congress leader called him “nange bhooke ghar ka” (from a poverty stricken household) during a by-poll campaign rally, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan hit back on Monday claiming hailing from a poor background allowed him to understand the pain of the deprived and downtrodden.

Addressing a rally on Sunday in Rajpur in Ashok Nagar, Congress farmers’ cell leader Dinesh Gurjar highlighted Chouhan’s humble origins and that of “big industrialist” former chief minister Kamal Nath. “Kamal Nath desh ke doosre number ke udyogpati hai. Shivraj ki tarah nange bhooke ghar ke nahi (Kamal Nath is a big industrialist. He is not like Shivraj (Singh Chouhan) who is from a poverty-stricken household),” Gurjar said in the presence of the senior Congress leader who was state CM till March.

Responding on Twitter, Chouhan said. “I am from a nange bhooke ghar ka, and that’s why I understand their pain. I am poor and, therefore, ensure poor children go to school by becoming their mama (as the CM is affectionately called by supporters). I am poor, therefore, I perform kanyadaan (giving away the bride) of daughters of poor families.” Addressing a rally in Guna, Chouhan lashed out at the Congress over the “nange bhooke” remark and took a swipe at Nath by stating “I understand the pain of the poor but an industrialist won’t.”

Notably, Dinesh Gurjar while addressing an election meeting in Ashoknagar had said that former CM Kamal Nath is the country’s second-ranked industrialist, not a bare-hungry family like Shivraj. Gurjar further said that Shivraj once used to have barely 5 acres of land, but today he owns thousands of acres of land which he has accumulated by drinking the blood of farmers. Gurjar also said that whenever a terrorist attack occurs, Congress leaders are killed. BJP or RSS leaders are never killed in terrorist or Naxalite attacks.

BJP state president Vishnu Dutt Sharma termed the Congress leader’s statement as an insult to the farmers and poor of the state.

The BJP and the Congress are in a bitter tussle for 28 MP Assembly seats that would go for by-polls on November 3.