92% of US roads in bad shape, our roads world class: Chouhan

Bhopal: 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 per cent of US roads are in bad shape. "My tour has been in news a bit too much this time, it is true that 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 roads in our state," Chouhan told reporters at the airport after his arrival here on Sunday evening from his US tour. "The difference can be realised when one goes from Indore airport to bypass. Besides, our roads are world-class," he added. On being asked of Congress's appeal to the US President Donald Trump over his road comment, Chouhan said: "I had gone there to build and image of my state there, 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 was the condition of roads 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 of 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 benefited from these trips and the details of all the expenses incurred. Chouhan was on a trip to US October 22-28.