Congress leader Supriya Shrinate launched an attack at Madhya Pradesh's ruling Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) government on Monday claiming that there had been more than 250 scams in 18 years of the saffron rule in the state and no section of society has managed to escape unscathed. She added that the BJP has pushed the state into a sea of debt where each child born will be inheriting a debt of Rs 40,000. She alleged, "More than 250 scams, including Vyapam, a multi-crore admission and recruitment racket, have ruined the future of the youth. (Scam in) patwari recruitment, school dress (procurement) irregularities connected to 43 lakh children and 50,000 fake marriages have come to light in MP in the 18-year rule of the BJP. No sector has been spared," as reported by news agency PTI.
She further claimed, "The debt and other liabilities of the state have increased to Rs 4,22,009.37 crore in the budget of 2023-24. That means the per capita loan of MP is around Rs 40,000 and the growth rate of loan is more than the growth rate of revenue receipts of the state."
She added, "The revenue of the state is not increasing, why is the growth rate of the state being increased by ignoring two years of Covid-19? The reason for this is if more development is shown then more loans are taken. On one hand, the Shivraj government kept saying that during its tenure the state is progressing everywhere, and its Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) is increasing by leaps and bounds. On the other hand, the NITI Aayog of the Central Government states that about 35 per cent of the people of Madhya Pradesh are below the poverty line."
She cited the National Family Health Survey in Madhya Pradesh as stating that 37 per cent of children under five years of age are malnourished. "Ujjwala Yojana gas connections were given to those people who live below the poverty line and the number of such families is 82 lakh. The Parliamentary Committee of the Agriculture Ministry states that a farmer in Madhya Pradesh earns Rs 55 a day. That is, all the health and social indices show that the state has been pushed into the pit of poverty, then for whom and where is this growth rate increasing," Shrinate said, as quoted by news agency ANI.
She concluded by saying that the people of MP are looking forward to the formation of a Congress government under Kamal Nath as they know he will bring all-round development into the state and he will also bring the much-needed investments.