MP polls: Shivraj Singh Chouhan upbeat; confident of a hat-trick

Bhopal: With barely two days left for the Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh and poll surveys predicting a clear win for the BJP, state Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today exuded confidence of scoring a hat-trick in the polls with a comfortable majority.

"I am totally confident that BJP will win the polls with a distinct margin and I am saying this not because of surveys, but because of the love and affection being showered on the BJP on the basis of its work in the last 10 years," Chouhan told PTI in an interview, in between hopping from one rally to another in his helicopter.

Referring to poll surveys that have predicted a clear victory for the BJP, Chouhan said, "I don't want to talk about the number of seats, but with the kind of support that is visible on the ground, I am sure that the BJP will come back to power with a huge majority."

In 2008, the BJP had won 143 Assembly seats out of 230 in the state.

Criticising Congress for hitting him below the belt as the high decibel campaign featuring star campaigners reached its crescendo, Chouhan said Congress leaders are afraid of him. They know that unless they do not target him on a personal level or damage his reputation, they won't be able to come back to power.

"Therefore, they stoop to the level of below standard politics...I regret that Congress has lowered its standard to such a level," he remarked.

Chouhan and his wife Sadhna Singh recently sent a defamation notice to Congress President Sonia Gandhi and party state unit chief, demanding Rs 10 crore in damages, over an advertisement issued by Congress targeting his family.