After rain havoc, comes the political slugfest

Mandsaur: As rainfall subsided and flood waters began to recede from towns and villages of Madsaur and Neemuch revealing the extent of damage to crops and infrastructure, the districts have started witnessing political one-upmanship.

Leaders from both BJP and Congress have begun a blame game over providing of relief to the needy and visits of senior leaders have been planned to the flood-ravaged areas.

Former chief minister Shivaraj Singh Chouhan was the first senior political leader to visit Mandsaur and Neemuch districts on September 16.

After taking stock of farms submerged in knee-deep water, Chouhan accused state government of negligence in not opening gates of Gandhi Sagar Dam on time and slammed it for not starting survey of affected areas followed by required assistance. By evening, cabinet minister and in-charge of Mandsaur district Hukum Singh Karada reached Rampura area of Neemuch and alleged that Chouhan was politicizing the situation. Chouhan has now planned a daylong dharna outside district collectorate on Saturday to press for demands including compensation of Rs40,000/hectare on loss of soyabean crop, allotment of houses to those whose residential units have been destroyed, waiving off electricity bills and agriculture loans of eligible farmers and compensation to traders. Reacting to this planned dharna, higher education minister Jitu Patwari on Friday posted a tweet, saying that flood had affected life in Mandsaur, Neemuch and other districts of Madhya Pradesh but Shivrajji was doing politics on it. “Be a true well-wisher of farmers, stop drama and bring relief funds from centre,” he tweeted

“BJP is not doing politics but helping people by reminding state government its duty. It’s only after Chouhan visited Mandsaur and Neemuch and demanded relief and compensation for the affected, did chief minister Kamal Nath and other senior leaders pay heed to those who are suffering,” Mandsaur MLA Yashpal Singh Sisodiya told TOI. Chief minister Kamal Nath will also visit Mandsaur and Neemuch districts on September 23 to take stock of the situation. Other senior Congress leaders including Jyotiraditya Scindia, and Digvijaya Singh will also visit affected areas between September 21 and 24. On Friday, Mandsaur MP Sudhir Gupta met Union home minister Amit Shah and informed him about damage caused by heavy rain in different parts of Ujjain division and requested him to provide assistance.