File photo of former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath.
Credit: PTI Photo
Bhopal: To tilt public support in favour of its candidate in Kamal Nath’s stronghold Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh, the BJP is raking up the Congress leader’s aviation assets to script a narrative of wealthy-versus-commoner.
Of the 29 Lok Sabha seats in MP, the BJP bagged 28 in the 2019 polls, with Kamal Nath’s son Nakul Nath winning from their bastion Chhindwara on a Congress ticket.
Buoyed up by its stunning victory in the MP assembly elections held a few months ago, the BJP is striving to make a clean sweep in the Hindi heartland state.
“A big Congress leader. A very big leader… keeps two, not one, helicopters at his house. When he returns, he lands the chopper right inside his home. He had been an MP chief minister,” said Chief Minister Mohan Yadav at an election rally in Sidhi on Wednesday.
“Our government has decided that there will be a helicopter but the poor will have the right over it. To rush poor people to hospitals for urgent treatment,” Yadav said, seeking to shed light on the recently launched air ambulance service for citizens during medical emergencies.
BJP candidate from Chhindwara Vivek Sahu, who is pitted against sitting MP Nakul Nath, also attacked the former CM over his helicopter use during public outreaches.
“Kamal Nath does the politics of helicopter and plane to reach villages and make false promises. He never uses the road to connect with the people, who this time around, are going to teach him a lesson,” Sahu told PTI over the phone.
Locals in Chhindwara said Nath has two helipads at his residence in the Shikrapur area of Chhindwara.
Kamal Nath, who successfully contested from Chhindwara, had declared assets of Rs 134 crore in his election affidavit ahead of last year's assembly elections, according to the non-profit Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), dedicated to electoral and political reforms in the country.
The BJP, according to political observers, is trying to portray and build a narrative that Nath and his son are rich men, while its candidate Sahu is a commoner to turn the fight between the rich and poor in Chhindwara.
The Chhindwara seat has been the bastion of Congress. The grand old party has lost elections from this seat just once after Independence. Kamal Nath had won this seat for a record nine times.