BJP pins hope on 'Modi-Chouhan' magic for win in MP polls

Indore: Echoing a similar sentiment as expressed by his colleague, a Madhya Pradesh minister today said the combined magic of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi will ensure the party's win for third time in the state polls.

"When Chouhan and Modi campaign together, they will not be two but prove to be 11 and it will definitely benefit the BJP," Madhya Pradesh Minister of State for Health Mahendra Hardia told PTI here today.

The youths who form a large part of voters in Madhya Pradesh have been inclined towards Modi and this would help the BJP, Hardia said.

Earlier, state industries minister Kailash Vijayvargiya had also said that the 'Modi factor' coupled with Chouhan's strong influence in the state would help the BJP win 175 seats out of the total 230 during the forthcoming MP Assembly elections.

However, the Congress had claimed that campaigning by Modi instead of helping the BJP, would harm it.

Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh had told reporters here recently that Modi was welcome to campaign in Madhya Pradesh. Singh recalled that Modi was the BJP's in-charge during the 1998 Assembly elections in MP, which the Congress had won.

He had also said that in the past, the Congress fought against Modi's campaign in Uttarakhand, Karnataka and Assam also.