Jogi harps on tribal identity

NEW DELHI, Nov 10 (UNI) Chhattisgarh chief minister Ajit Jogi has expressed confidence that the smear campaign let loose by the Bharatiya Janata Party to disprove his claim of belonging to a tribal community, will not get any support from the people of the state.

"There is no need for me to counter the BJP campaign.

My people know me, trust me and have showered their affection on me," Mr Jogi said in an exclusive interview with uni here after the completion of one-year in the office.

Mr Jogi, whose claim of being a tribal has been dismissed by the national commission for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, said the tribals had very recently elected him to the assembly by the highest margin ever secured by any Congressman in Chhattisgarh against the BJP.

"They respect the judiciary which has already not once but twice passed clear verdicts on the matter," he added.

"People, especially the tribals, have been electing me.

Their mandate has always been in my favour," he said, dubbing the BJP as a "fascist party" with no respect the law, constitution, courts and the people.

Terming the SC-ST commissions order setting aside his claim of being a tribal as "unconstitutional and illegal", Mr Jogi ruled out any threat to his one-year-old government in the wake of the commissions order which, he said, was a politically-motivated move to destabilise the state government.

It may be recalled that the SC-ST commission had observed in its verdict that Mr Jogi had fraudulently procured an st certificate to claim his tribal identity.

However, Mr Jogi has obtained a stay of the operation of the commissions order from the Chhattisgarh high court.

Asked about his differences with Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh and the ongoing disputes between Chhattisgarh and MP on several issues like sharing of natural resources and property, distribution of power and transfer of services of employees, Mr Jogi dismissed the impression prevailing, saying,"it is a misinformation campaign." "We have no differences nor disputes.

Both are the congress-governed states.

All problems have been resolved amicably.

Issues will keep cropping up and get sorted out.

It is a long-drawn process, " the chief minister said.

Asked to comment on the controversial method of assessment of the performance of his ministers through MLAs adopted by the Madhya Pradesh chief minister and whether he would also go in for the same method, Mr Jogi said every chief minister has his own method of assessing the performance of his ministers.

"MrDigvijaya Singh is an experienced CM who found the method apt to assess his ministers well," he added.

When pointed out that he faced stiff opposition not so much from the BJP as from within his own party from a section led by former union minister V C Shukla, Mr Jogi said, "Mr Shukla is a respected, experienced and old leader of the party.

He had every right to give suggestions and whenever he gave suggestions, we consider all his suggestions seriously." "We take his suggestions seriously and try to correct ourselves," he added.

About the charge levelled by senior BJP leaders of Chhattisgarh that his one-year rule as the chief minister had been full of scams like furniture scam, fodder scam and medicine scam and so on, Mr Jogi remarked, "what else one can expect from the BJP.

They are in opposition and they can say baseless things." Asked as to how many new jobs exactly have been created after the formation of Chhattisgarh, the chief minister said the government was no longer the main provider of jobs.

" In the changing scenario, jobs are to be created in the private and service sectors.

With an improved investment climate in the state, jobs are being created in the private sector," he added.

Mr Jogi pointed out, "as for as the government jobs were concerned, we raised three battalions, appointed teachers and doctors to fill up the vacant posts.

For the first time, a para medical force was started to provide self-employment to youths." about the recurring feature of migration of labour from the state to other parts of the country in search of job, Mr Jogi said his government had effectively tackled the problem of distress migration.

So far there had been no distress migration.

Last year the government provided jobs to 12 lakh people under the scarcity relief programme.

This year, in spite of a good crop, the government had started massive rural employment programme from August itself, he added.

On the naxalite problem in the state, Mr Jogi said he believed that the naxalite problem was not merely a law and order problem .It had a socio-economic dimension.

"Unless we tackle that, the problem will remain.

We have to remove poverty, exploitation and unemployment to bring them into the mainstream of nation.

We are trying to tackle the problem," he added.