Congress Lost Madhya Pradesh Polls Due To Ego After Karnataka Win: Shivraj Chouhan

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday said the Congress lost in the state because of its "ego" after winning the Karnataka Assembly polls in May this year and not because of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party retained power in MP in an emphatic manner winning 163 seats in the 230-member Assembly, while the Congress managed to emerge victorious on just 66 seats, down from the 114 it had secured in the 2018 polls.

Since then, some Congress leaders, including Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh have raised the issue of EVMs and their credibility.

"Those blaming EVMs for their crushing defeat in the recent Assembly polls are basically venting out their frustration. The Congress lost not because of the EVMs, but due to their ego," Mr Chouhan said while addressing a public meet in Raghogarh.

"The day the Congress won the polls in Karnataka (in May this year), the BJP won in MP because the victory in Karnataka had filled the Congress with ego," Chouhan asserted.

Incidentally, Raghogarh Assembly seat was retained by Jaivardhan Singh, the son of Digvijaya Singh, albeit with a reduced margin when compared to the 2018 edition.

As part of the BJP's mission to win all 29 Lok Sabha seats in the 2024 general elections, Mr Chouhan is visiting those constituencies where it lost in the November 17 state polls.

He blamed former chief minister Digvijaya Singh for the backwardness of Raghogarh and said the BJP government will develop it at all costs.

Before visiting Raghogarh, Mr Chouhan toured Chhindwara, the stronghold of MP Congress chief Kamal Nath.

The BJP lost on all seven Assembly seats in Chhindwara in the polls, results of which were declared on December 3.

Mr Chouhan said experts had predicted a tight finish between the Congress and the BJP, but "ladli behanas" (referring to women beneficiaries of the state government's Ladli Behana scheme) removed all the thorns in the path of the BJP and gave the ruling party a resounding victory.

Reiterating that the aid given under the scheme will be gradually hiked to Rs 3,000 per month from the current Rs 1,250, the CM said, "Changing lives of the sisters (women of the state) is a mission of Shivraj and I will leave no stone unturned to achieve this goal."

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP won 28 seats, losing in Chhindwara, which is represented by Nath's son Nakul Nath.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)