New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday agreed with the exit polls showing the grand old party was ahead in Chhattisgarh, discounted the exit polls showing a close fight in Madhya Pradesh and said it will wait for the official result in Rajasthan where the exit polls projected an advantage to the BJP.
The Congress is hopeful of defeating the BJP in Madhya Pradesh and retaining power in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. In 2018, the Congress had won all three states however Kamal Nath government was toppled in 2020 after Jyotiraditya Scindia shifted to the BJP.
“The exit polls seem to be close to our estimates. Chhattisgarh was always with the Congress and we are forming the government there. This happened because we dominated the political narrative in the state. Our narrative focused on the local pride and rural-centric governance of the Bhupesh Baghel government. We delivered what we promised in 2018 and 2023 and widened and deepened our social welfare net like free education from KG to PG, better price for paddy, Rs 15,000 per year to women, better price for tendu leaves,” AICC secretary in charge of Chhattisgarh Chandan Yadav told ETV Bharat.
“We also had an array of leadership extending from Chief Minister Baghel to deputy CM TS Singh Deo, PCC chief Deepak Baij, state unit chief Mohan Markam, Speaker Charan Das Mahant, to MP Tamradhwaj Sahu. In comparison, the BJP only had former chief minister Raman Singh. Therefore, PM Modi had to spend so much time campaigning in the state. As our political narrative dominated, the BJP was forced to come out with “Modi Ki Guarantee” to match it. But they failed miserably. The BJP could not polarize the state polls and when it tried to match up to our social welfare and governance record, the voters could see the difference. Besides, a good delivery of our 2018 poll promises ensured there was no anti-incumbency against the Baghel government,” said Yadav.
The Congress rejected the Madhya Pradesh exit polls which showed that there was a close fight between the BJP and the grand old party. “We don’t think the exit polls are projecting a correct picture. We are getting a comfortable majority in the state and forming a government. There may be some change in the actual numbers when the results are out from what we have estimated. The BJP was a divided house in Madhya Pradesh and there was a huge public anger against the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government over corruption charges,” AICC secretary in charge of MP CP Mittal told this channel.
