Indore | Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday hit out at the opposition Congress, saying that it was facing public anger in the state and that it was nowhere in the assembly election race.

He also accused the previous Congress government led by Kamal Nath of stopping the welfare schemes launched by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) earlier.

The ruling BJP has rolled out the 'Jan Ashirwad Yatra' from September 3 to reach out to voters ahead of the elections, while the Congress launched the 'Jan Akrosh Yatra' on Tuesday, claiming that there was public anger against the present saffron regime.

"Congress is nowhere in the race (for the upcoming assembly elections). It is only facing public anger," Chouhan told PTI while participating in the BJP's 'Jan Ashirwad Yatra' in Indore.

On the Congress's 'Jan Akrosh Yatra', CM Chouhan said, "They (Congress) do many things which we have already done, but their only intention is to garner votes, whereas we serve the public." People know the real face of the Congress, he said.

The BJP will win with a record number of votes in the upcoming assembly elections on 230 seats, he claimed.

Earlier, while talking to reporters at the Indore airport, Chouhan alleged that the previous Kamal Nath-led Congress government had stopped the implementation of various public welfare schemes started during the BJP rule.

On DMK leaders' remarks against Sanatan Dharma, Chouhan said that Madhya Pradesh will not tolerate such statements.

When asked about the BJP leaders joining the Congress ahead of the assembly polls, the CM refused to comment on it.

Kamal Nath-led Congress government collapsed in March 2020, after being in power for 15 months, when a section of Congress MLAs, mostly loyal to Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, quit the grand old party and joined the BJP. After that, the saffron party returned to power with Chouhan as the chief minister after losing the assembly polls in 2018