Bhopal: Congress president Rahul Gandhi began his roadshow here on Monday after taking blessings from 11 Hindu priests as he kick-started his party's campaign in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh.
The 48-year-old Congress chief, whom the main opposition party in the state has been describing as a 'Shiv bhakt' in banners and posters put up in Bhopal, arrived at the airport here earlier to a grand welcome.
Gandhi was received at the airport by Madhya Pradesh Congress president Kamal Nath and senior party leader and Guna MP Jyotiraditya Scindia among others.
As he stepped out from the airport, several Congressmen holding the party flags chanted "Rahul Gandhi Zindabad".
Hindu priests, chanting mantras, blessed Gandhi as he reached the Lalgathi area, amid a heavy security cover, to launch the poll campaign in Madhya Pradesh where the BJP has been ruling for the last 15 years.
Before hopping on to a bus for the 15-km-long roadshow, Gandhi performed a 'puja'. Thousands of Congressmen thronged the road sides and jostled to catch a glimpse of their party chief, who set out in the bus along with senior party leaders.
Gandhi's roadshow, after passing through the main streets of the city, concluded at the Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd's Dussehra Maidan, where he interacted with party cadres in the evening.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Monday termed the demonetisation as the "biggest scam" of the Modi government to convert black money into white.
"Demonetisation was the biggest scam that the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has undertaken in four years which the Congress had not done in the last 70 years," Gand6hi said at the BHEL Dusshera Maidan.
"The scam was aimed at taking out money from the small traders to put into the pockets of 15 richest persons of the country," the Congress leader alleged.
He claimed that the BJP-led government has waived loans worth Rs 1.5 lakh crore which was the NPA of 15 big industries.
He questioned why the loans of farmers, who "have borrowed just Rs 5000", could not be waived.
"Those who took loans in lakhs and crores were called as 'Non-Performing Assets (NPA)', but when a farmer fails to pay Rs 5000 loan, you term him as 'defaulter'," Gandhi said.
"When Congress comes to power in the country, it will waive the entire loan of farmers. The Congress had already done so by waiving Rs 70,000 crore loan earlier of the peasants," he said.
For generating jobs for the youth, the Congress government will ensure that mobile phones and other items will be manufactured here under 'Made-in-Madhya Pradesh' and 'Made-in-Bhopal, he added.
The Congress president recently returned from a pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar. As part of the pilgrimage, devotees undertake an arduous journey to Mount Kailash, which is considered the abode of Lord Shiva in Hindu mythology.
