Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed five rallies in Chhattisgarh after the Assembly polls were announced, targeting Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel over the alleged Mahadev app scam and accusing the Congress of appeasement politics while terming the BJP's promises "Modi's guarantees".
Against predictions by most exit polls that the ruling Congress has an edge in the state, the BJP, which banked heavily on the charisma of the PM, is leading on 53 seats in the 90-member Assembly.
The Congress is leading on 35 seats, with several of its stalwarts, including Deputy Chief Minister TS Singh Deo and state unit chief Deepak Baij trailing from Ambikapur and Chitrakot, respectively.
In his five rallies in Kanker, Durg, Surajpur, Mungeli, and Mahasamund districts after the poll schedule was announced on October 9, PM Modi attacked the Congress over corruption and asserted the BJP would come back to set the state back on the path of development.
"BJP ne banaya hai, BJP hi sawaregi (BJP has made Chhattisgarh and BJP will nurture it)," he had said at the rallies, including in Mungeli and Mahasamund on November 13 where he accused Mr Baghel of stalling development and allowing his family, including his son, and a coterie of officials to act as the "super Chief Minister".
The Congress led by Bhupesh Baghel and those close to him looted the state coffers during its five-year rule, the PM had alleged as he spoke about the alleged money trail in the Mahadev app "scam" being probed by the Enforcement Directorate.
The PM asserted that "30 per cent wale kakka ka sarkar ka jaana pakka ho gaya" (the 30 per cent commission government of Kaka was sure to go). Bhupesh Baghel is fondly called 'kaka (uncle)' by his supporters.
The PM had also said the Bhupesh Baghel government was involved in the alleged irregularities in the state public service commission recruitment process and warned that those involved would not be spared when the BJP comes to power.
The PM had said the people of the state were fed up with the Baghel government and were chanting "aur na sahibo, badal ke rahibo (will not tolerate anymore, will bring about change)".
Slamming the Congress for its demand for a caste census, PM Modi had said he considers the poor to be the biggest caste in the country.
The PM had addressed rallies in Jagdalpur (October), Bilaspur and Raigarh (September), and Raipur (July), which were well attended and set the ground for the BJP's campaign to unseat Bhupesh Baghel.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
