Bhopal,:Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan Sunday embarked on a statewide election tour, fully confident about his Bharatiya Janata party s victory in the Nov 27 polls.

"People will vote for the development of the state they have seen under the present regime," Chouhan said, speaking to reporters at the state party headquarters before starting his tour. Chouhan said the State witnessed more development in five years of the BJP rule than the 50 years of the Congress regime. He denied his party faced any threat from the emerging smaller parties, including the Bharatiya Jan Shakti (BJS) Party of Uma Bharti. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) are no threat either," Chouhan said. Politics in the state has been polarised between the Congress and the BJP and other parties would not have much impact in the ensuing state polls.

The BSP did win over 10 assembly seats in 1998 but later in 2003 its tally was reduced to two. Similarly, the SP won eight seats last time but four of the legislators have quit the party. This indicates the main contest would be between the Congress and the BJP," he said. I am starting on the journey to seek blessings of the people to take the state among the front ranking states of the country and in view of my government s performance, they would sure provide me another chance, Chouhan said.

On the allegations of corruption against him and his ministerial colleagues, Chouhan said, Not a single charge has been proved. Such charges have no meaning for they are not proved." Senior party leaders including state unit president Narendra Singh Tomar, former Chief Minister Sunderlal Patwa, general secretary Prabhat Jha, state organising secretary Makhan Singh and others were present when Chouhan started his state tour.

Source : IANS