Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who was in the news for unfavourably comparing American roads with those in his state, on Sunday attributed "studies" to claim that 92 percent of US roads were indeed in bad shape.
On arrival from from his US tour on Sunday evening, Chouhan told reporters:
My tour has been in news a bit too much this time. It’s true I said that roads in our state are better than those in America because when I was travelling towards the city from the airport in Washington, I was reminded of the roads in our state.
"The difference can be realised when one goes from Indore airport to bypass. Besides, our roads are world-class," he added.
On being asked about Congress's appeal to the US President Donald Trump over his road comment, Chouhan said:
I had gone there to build an image of my state, it is natural that I will only talk about good things. That is what I did. As far as Congress is concerned, it should not do politics on this issue, it better recall what the condition of roads was like during its tenure.
He said that relations between India and US have deepened and that this is the golden period of friendship between the two. The bond between the countries will play an important part in fostering world peace, he said.
Congress, on the other hand, levelled a charge against the Chief Minister for splashing public money on foreign trips and demanded a white paper on the details of his trips.
Leader of Opposition in Assembly Ajay Singh, in a statement on Sunday, said that Chouhan has gone on 15 foreign trips in total since 2015 and demanded to know how have the people of Madhya Pradesh benefitted from these trips and the details of all the expenses incurred.
Chouhan was on a trip to US from 22 to 28 October.
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