RAIPUR: A day after the opposition BJP mobilised a massive crowd of beneficiaries, ‘deprived’ of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) by the Chhattisgarh government, to gherao the state assembly, senior opposition leaders on Thursday accused the police of "attempting murder" on their party colleagues by hurling tear gas shells at the crowd.
Sharing the video of what they said it as a ‘tear gas bomb’ thrown at the agitating party workers, BJP state president Arun Sao told reporters on Thursday that the intensity of the smoke bombs can be gauged from the deafening noise it generated when it burst in the crowd.
“It could have killed anyone, had it hit someone among us directly. It was an attempt of murder and we are considering legal action against such an act,” said Sao while terming that it was for the first time such tactics were used to suppress the opposition agitation.
Describing the public outrage against the state government as a result of the government’s apathy towards providing houses to the needy under the PMAY as historic and biggest ever in Chhattisgarh’s history, Sao said that it is the beginning and such agitation will be staged at regular intervals with assembly elections round the corner.
He asked chief minister Bhupesh Baghel if his government has no trust in the survey conducted by the UPA government in 2011. At a time when the Congress government provided houses to the poor as per the 2011 survey under PMAY, Bhupesh Baghel deprived over 16 lakh rural families and more than four lakh urban families of Chhattisgarh of owning a house.
Drawing attention towards the ongoing face-off between Pradesh Congress president Mohan Markam and chief minister Baghel, Sao said that Markam does not trust the chief minister who also has the same problem.
Sao said that the chief minister is accountable to 2.50 crore people of Chhattisgarh, but he is accountable to a family in Delhi leaving the people of the state in the lurch. He reiterated that the BJP chief minister will sign the file of the housing scheme for the poor before reaching the chief minister’s official residence.
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