Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Tuesday came down heavily on Rahul Gandhi, stating that the Congress leader was scaring away people with his remarks about “making the Constitution redundant” and that the latter should apologise for his remark.
Talking to ANI in Khandwa context of the Congress MP’s remark in Ratlam a day earlier that Prime Minister Narendra Modi wanted to make the Constitution redundant by snatching away the rights of Adivasis, Backwards and Dalits, Yadav said the current election is between two sons- Narendra Modi who is a son of mother India and the other, the son of a foreign mother, in an apparent reference to Rahul Gandhi.
“As far as what the Congress leader has said after coming to the state is concerned, this election is actually between two sons, one son of mother India Narendra Modi, and the other is the son of a foreign mother (referring to Rahul Gandhi), who has neither seen poverty nor suffering in his life and has been constantly misleading people. Their (Rahul Gandhi’s) family ruled for almost 60 years. Still, he is scaring people and threatening them the Constitution would be changed. The Nehru family has made the maximum amendments to Constitution. In such a situation, he (Rahul Gandhi) should apologise for his statement,” Yadav said.
The chief minister further said that he hoped that the way people were trusting PM Modi, Madhya Pradesh and the country would progress under his leadership.
Addressing a public meeting in Ratlam on May 6, Rahul Gandhi had said, “PM Modi wants to make the Constitution redundant and only he wants to rule. He wants to snatch all of your rights. This is their goal and we are trying to stop him. All the rights that the Adivasis, backwards and Dalits get, are due to this (Constitution). BJP leaders have said very clearly that if they come to power, they will put this book (Constitution) aside. This is why they have given a slogan of 400 seats. They are not going to get even 150 seats. Their leaders have been saying that we will take away the reservation.”
“We will increase the reservations to more than 50 per cent. We will remove the 50 per cent limit implemented by the court. We will give the amount of reservation required by the Dalits, Adivasis, backwards and poor,” Rahul added.
Besides, chief minister Yadav has appealed to the public to exercise their franchise for the third phase of polling for nine Lok Sabha seats in the state saying voting is our constitutional right.
Nine parliamentary seats- Morena, Bhind, Gwalior, Guna, Sagar, Vidisha, Bhopal, Rajgarh and Betul went to polls in the third phase of general elections today.
“Today, there is polling for nine Lok Sabha seats going on in the state and I appeal to all voters to cast their vote in large numbers. Voting is our constitutional right and it strengthens democracy. Madhya Pradesh is a land of peace. All arrangements are in place, voting is going on peacefully,” Yadav said this morning.
Lok Sabha polls in Madhya Pradesh are being conducted in four phases. The first phase of polling was held on April 19 and the second phase was concluded on April 26. the fourth, which is the last phase of LS polls in the state, will be held on May 13. The counting of votes will be held on June 4.
With 29 Lok Sabha constituencies, Madhya Pradesh ranks sixth among all states in terms of its representation in the Lower House. Of these, 10 seats are reserved for SC and ST candidates, while the remaining 19 are unreserved.