Madhya Pradesh debt burden has risen by Rs 70,000 crore under BJP rule: Congress

BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh Congress vice-president Laxman Singh today alleged the debt burden of the state has shot up by Rs 70,000 crore during ten-year rule of the BJP government.

"The debt was Rs. 22,000 crore in 2003 but after 10 years of BJP rule it has gone up to Rs. 92,000 crore," Singh told reporters here.

Taking a jibe at Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's "Aao Banaye Madhya Pradesh" Yatra, launched yesterday, the Congress leader said the party will also embark on "Aao Bachaye Madhya Pradesh Yatra" (Save Madhya Pradesh) to "expose" Chouhan's claims on development.

He said contrary to Chouhan's claims that Centre was discriminating against the BJP government, the Centre had indeed given Rs. 500 crore to state government under the National Rural Health Mission.

"When the state government cannot use the money that is allotted to it, how can Chouhan say the state was being discriminated against," Singh said.

Referring to the recent incident wherein Chouhan ordered digging of a road to check its quality, Singh said, "the quality of a road is tested by a laboratory and Chouhan digging the road only shows his lack of faith in his ministers and engineers".