Shajapur (MP), Apr 22 (PTI) Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Monday took a dig at Rahul Gandhi over Congress' assurance to remove poverty in "one stroke" and questioned why previous governments led by the party failed to help poor people.

He claimed the BJP would win all 29 constituencies in the state as per the feedback received from the party workers.

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Notably, six constituencies, including Chhindwara, voted in the first phase of general elections, while the rest will go to polls in the phases between April 26 and May 13.

"He (Rahul) doesn't even know 'G' of garibi (poverty). Congress ran the government for a long time and now it is shamelessly talking about removing poverty in one stroke," Yadav said while addressing a rally after Dewas Lok Sabha candidate Mahendra Singh Solanki filed his nomination papers.

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Yadav also targeted the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and former Congress president Sonia Gandhi in a veiled reference.

"Your (Rahul's) mother ran the government but poverty was not removed. Your father (Rajiv Gandhi) also ran the government but poverty was not eradicated. Your party ran the government for 55 years but poverty remained. Now you are saying that you will remove poverty," Yadav said.

He said Congress was reduced to just 115 seats in the 2014 general elections but since it didn't learn any lesson and kept talking about irrelevant things, it was reduced to a "52-seater bus" in 2019.

"The current condition of Congress suggests it will not be even of a tempo size," the chief minister added.

He demanded that the Congress apologise to the nation for declining the invitation to attend the consecration ceremony of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.

"Lord Ram Lalla was consecrated on January 22. But has anyone heard about Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (AICC general secretary) visiting Ayodhya for darshan (of Lord Ram)," Yadav asked.

Speaking to reporters ahead of the rally, the chief minister said the overall atmosphere in MP and the rest of the country is in favour of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is seeking a third straight term.

Later, Yadav joined a rally in support of BJP's Ujjain Lok Sabha candidate Anil Firojiya who filed his nomination papers.

Both Dewas and Ujjain seats are reserved for SC (Scheduled Caste) candidates.

In 2019, the BJP won 28 of 29 seats in Madhya Pradesh, with Chhindwara being the only exception.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)