Amid push for a population control policy by some BJP-ruled states, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Wednesday said had the BJP not opposed the sterilisation drive in the 1970s the population would have not increased so much and accused the saffron party of raising the issue with an eye on the next year’s Uttar Pradesh elections.

“This is the same BJP (referring to the erstwhile Bharatiya Jan Sangh) that had opposed the sterilisation programme. If that drive had been carried forward in the 1970s, then the population would not have increased so much,” the CM said.