Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel targets former CM Raman Singh over reservation issue
Feb 07, 2023
Raipur (Chhattisgarh) [India], February 7 : Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Tuesday slammed former CM Raman Singh over the reservation issue in the state.
"Singh is now forgetting the stats. The total reservation quota which he had implemented was at 58 per cent, now he is saying that it was 56 per cent. The present reservation bill passed in the assembly contains a total quota of 76 per cent but he states 82 percent. The statements of both Raman Singh and Raj Bhavan are the same."
"If Singh had to oppose the reservation bill then why didn't he speak in the assembly? He then supported and now they are protesting. It means that the BJP doesn't want reservation. The second thing is that Minimum Support Price (MSP) during Congress-led UPA government between 2004 and 2014 has increased by 137 per cent while during BJP rule from 2014 to 2022 is only 55 per cent. It clearly shows that BJP is anti-farmer," Baghel added.
Reacting to the statement of the Governor's Secretariat about reservation that the court can never force the Governor or the President to answer, Baghel said, "Governor Anusuiya Uikey herself is misusing her powers. She has no right to ask the government for the bill which has been passed by the assembly. If the court has asked for a reply then it is very unfortunate. If the court has given notice, then they should answer it in the court, not outside."
Commenting on the Adani issue, the Chief Minister said, "Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been raising this demand for the last two-three years. Right now, the protests are being held at branches of SBI Bank and LIC offices across the country. Members of Parliament in Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha want to discuss but what is the reason that the Central Government is running away from discussion. What they want to hide and whom they want to save? It is a simple matter, if there is no involvement of the central government, then they should discuss it, because the money of crores of people is deposited in LIC and SBI. Poor people take LIC policy and now that money is sinking, so the central government should answer about it, they should not run away from its discussion."
On the other hand, BJP state president Arun Sao lashed out at CM Baghel for playing "politics" on reservation.
"Baghel is continuously doing politics in the matter of reservation and spreading confusion. We have increased the reservation quota to 58 per cent. We have increased the reservation of Scheduled Tribes from 20 to 32 per cent. The reservation decreased because of the Baghel government. In the same way, you did the drama of reservation for the backward classes. Earlier, when the reservation issue was in court, the congress government sent its party workers to cancel out the issue."
"Congress party is a party that takes away reservation and we did the work of giving reservations. We fully supported the bill in the assembly. Today, the state government is running away from giving the information that Raj Bhavan is asking for to sign the reservation bill. Bhupesh Baghel and Congress should stop doing politics in the name of reservation. We are in favour of reservation, reservation should be given to the people of Chhattisgarh soon," Sao added.