BJP is targetting prominent citizens from various walks of society for interaction. As part of the campaign Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan met a prominent doctor and former civil servants. Besides the state BJP leaders Amit Shah chose Jabalpur city to meet some prominent citizens there. During his stay in Jabalpur he called on two retired Supreme Court judges – former head of MP Lokayukta Justice PP Navelkar and former chairman of MP Human Rights Commission Justice D D Dharmadhikari. He was accompanied by Chouhan for these meetings. Shah also met party functionaries and asked them to plunge into the campaign to win MP Vidhan Sabha elections due by year end and the Lok Sabha elections due next year.

Shah, who reached Jabalpur on 12th June to discuss party’s strategy for Mission 2018 and 2019, hinted at camping in the state from next month. The BJP president offered Narmada pooja at the famous Dhuandhar Jalprapat in Bhedaghat. Shah was accompanied by party national general secretary Anil Jain and state in-charge Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, state election committee convener Narendra Singh Tomar, state party president Rakesh Singh and national general secretary (organisation) Ramlal. They were among the 22 members who attended the election management committee meeting. This is Shah’s fourth meeting in the past four months. Earlier he had toured Ujjain and Jabalpur and visited Bhopal twice to address party workers.

During the meeting the party’s national chief exhorted the state leadership to adopt a new strategy for ticket distribution, intensify publicity of welfare schemes and achievements and make efforts to retain the position in regions where the party might lose support in the forthcoming assembly polls.

“There were concerns over declining vote base among tribals. The party president also discussed core issues to be raised during the campaigning. The road map of the election campaign was also discussed and approved,” said a senior party leader.

While Jyotiraditya Scindia interacted with youth, state Congress president Kamal Nath addressed meetings of government employees. This meeting was attended by nearly 400 leaders of 54 employees unions.

Setting a target of 10 votes for an employee, Nath called upon the employees union to support Congress forgetting a few mistakes of Digvijay Singh tenure and promised to fulfill the demands of employees if voted to power. Congress leader Bala Bachchan was also present in the meeting. Employees unions expressed their grievances during tenure of Digvijay Singh like retrenchment of 28,000 daily wagers.

“Anyone who commits a crime against women will be charged within 24 hours if Congress forms the government irrespective of who becomes the CM,” said Jyotiraditya Scindia during his interaction at the Yuva Samvad programme in Bhopal on June 11. He was responding to a question raised by a girl on the issue of handling of women safety if the Congress forms the government. He stated that the party would present a blueprint for the development and employment for the youths.

On the Vyapam issue he stated that “real culprits are still behind the curtains; the eligibles remained unemployed and the illegible got the jobs’. Vyapam have destroyed the future of lakhs of youths in the state, he asserted. (IPA Service)