With elections not far away, the growing urgency of building up a wide support base is dictating the BJP’s show in Madhya Pradesh. Every day, some section of society is ‘benefiting’ from Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s announcements, which are being made by the dozen, even as Cabinet meetings are being held with religious regularity — with no minister billing the Government for overtime.

From increasing remuneration for kotwars in forest villages to hiking the honorariums of panchayat office-bearers to promising Sixth Pay Commission recommendations to Government employees to regularising daily-wage earners to clearing long-pending demands for land, the state Government is doling out sops at a breathtaking speed.

In the immediate aftermath of the Union Cabinet’s clearance for the Sixth Pay Commission, the state Finance Minister, Raghavji, had simply thrown his hands up, wondering how he would arrange money to meet the demand from state employees.

But on Tuesday, the Chief Minister made it explicit that he is confident of absorbing the financial burden running into hundreds of crores through “better fiscal management and increase in revenue. The state’s annual plan commitment will not be affected”.

Only a few days ago, some BJP leaders had criticised the UPA Government for committing to implement the Pay Commission’s report and leaving the states with no option but to follow suit.

When petroleum prices threatened to hit the roof, the Madhya Pradesh Government had set up a committee to suggest ways to save money and generate revenue. Before the committee’s recommendations were accepted, the Chief Minister even took to bicycling, pedalling his way once a week to the Secretariat and then back to his official bungalow.

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