Having a ‘local’ CM won’t ensure Vid development: Jogi

Nagpur: Former chief minister of Chhattisgarh Ajit Jogi feels that having a chief minister from Vidarbha will not ensure the region’s development and a separate state was the only solution. Addressing a ‘Meet the Press’ organized by Nagpur Union of Working Journalists (NUWJ) on Thursday, Jogi said, “The lobby of Mumbai and other developed regions of Maharashtra is so strong that it won’t allow the chief minister to focus on Vidarbha.There is no comparison between a ‘local’ CM and a CM of Vidarbha state”. He was in the city to deliver a talk on his experience of smaller states, organized by Tirpude College of Social Work.
Without naming the incumbent chief minister, Jogi said that most CMs of Maharashtra were politically very strong and a candidate for prime minister’s post. “If Vidarbha had such a strong CM then it would have seen some development. But not in the present circumstances,” he said, adding that he would support Vidarbha statehood movement.
On why Congress was against smaller states, Jogi said that the party believed that after creation of states on the basis of language, there was no need for further division. “When I was in Congress Working Committee (CWC), CMs of Congress-ruled states used to tell me that their clout in Delhi would reduce if their states were partitioned. This is another reason.”
On BJP’s policy of creating smaller states, he said, “If it wanted to create Vidarbha it would have done that in these two to three years. It is going to remain another of those unfulfilled promises of BJP.”
When asked about reasons for Congress’ decline, the ex-CM said, “What is apparent does not need any proof. When strength of the party which once had 411 MPs is reduced to 44, then there must be something wrong”.
While Jogi slammed BJP for not fulfilling its election promises, he congratulated the central government for surgical strikes against Pakistan. He blasted the claims of BJP that Chhattisgarh was a model of development. “Why has the menace of Naxals increased in the past few years,” he asked.
‘BJP will lose badly in Maha’
Ajit Jogi feels that BJP would lose badly in the next assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana. “A similar situation may exist in other BJP-ruled states too, but I can’t say it for sure.” On being asked about the reason for a possible BJP loss in Maharashtra, the ex-Congress leader said, “You know it better”.
When asked to comment on the outcome of 2019 parliamentary elections, he said, “In politics, you can’t predict what will happen tomorrow. Two years is a long time. However, if things continue as it is, then no big party will get a majority.”