Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Monday kickstarted her party’s campaign for the year-end Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh with a rally in Jabalpur where she accused the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government of being mired in corruption and failing to provide jobs. She cited alleged corruption in Vyapam and ration distribution and said 225 “scams” had taken place in the 220 months of Bharatiya Janata Party rule in the state.

“In the last three years, only 21 government jobs were provided in the state by the BJP government. When this figure was brought to my notice, I got it checked three times from my office and found it is a fact,” she said.

Gandhi said the Chouhan government had not even spared gods, referring to winds on May 28 damaging six idols in the Ujjain’s Mahakal Lok corridor, the first phase of which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in October last year.

The 900-metre corridor at the renowned Mahakaleshwar Temple is being built at a cost of Rs 856 crore and the first phase expenditure is Rs 351 crore.

Mocking the BJP’s “double-engine government” poll talk, Gandhi said, “We have seen a lot of double and triple-engine governments, but people of Himachal and Karnataka have given a befitting reply in the polls.”

“Double engine government” is a term used by the BJP to claim having a ruling dispensation of the party in the state and Centre was beneficial to people in terms of development. Taking a jibe at Congressman-turned BJP leader and Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, Gandhi, without taking his name, said some leaders in Madhya Pradesh had abandoned the party’s ideology for the sake of power.

MLAs loyal to Scindia had quit the Congress in March 2020, bringing down the Kamal Nath government and paving the way for Chouhan to return to power.