By IANS,
Raipur : Rejecting reports that the Chhattisgarh unit of the Congress is mired in groupism and infighting, state party working president Satyanarayan Sharma Sunday said there was unity to ensure that the party makes a “comeback in the state in the November polls”.
Sharma, newly-appointed state president, told IANS: “The ruling BJP is spreading rumours about infighting in the Congress to keep people’s attention away from its four-and-half-year misrule dominated by corruption and Maoist violence.”
“Chhattisgarh was traditionally the stronghold of the Congress even during undivided Madhya Pradesh period. We are surely making a comeback in the state in the November polls as people know only the Congress can take care of them,” he said.
Sharma was a minister in undivided Madhya Pradesh during the Digvijay Singh-led Congress government. He was elected to assembly for the fifth time in a row in November 2003.
Referring to a statement of the state government in the assembly this month, Sharma said: “We were stunned to know that the state witnessed 1,093 killings, including of 726 civilians, between Jan 1, 2004 and June 20, 2008.”
“These are horrifying figures of civilian and police casualties during the BJP tenure. The figures themselves explain the real law and order situation and the BJP government’s incapability to handle the Maoist menace,” said the 64-year-old Sharma.
On being asked who will be the chief minister if the party comes to power, he said: “There is democracy in the Congress and the elected MLAs will decide their leader in the presence of party observers.”