New Delhi: Upping the ante against the BJP and the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government in Madhya Pradesh, the Congress Wednesday accused Union minister of state for petroleum and natural gas Dharmendra Pradhan and other BJP and RSS leaders of “receiving” payments from an accused in the massive admissions and recruitment Vyapam scam. The BJP hit back, saying that the Congress was showing “desperation” by rehashing old charges that had nothing to do with Vyapam, while Mr Pradhan denied any favour from former BJP member Sudhir Sharma, an accused in the Vyapam scam. The Congress has, meanwhile, called a Madhya Pradesh bandh on Thursday demanding Mr Chouhan’s resignation.
The CBI, which is now tasked with investigating the Vyapam scam, registered FIRs in five cases related to the rigging of examinations, naming among others a member of the Madhya Pradesh Backward Classes and Minorities Commission and his son. It also launched a probe into the mysterious deaths of five people associated with the scam. The fourth FIR is the same case in which the special task force of the Madhya Pradesh government had named state governor Ram Naresh Yadav, which was later quashed by the high court on the ground of constitutional immunity enjoyed by him, sources said.
The CBI has sought records from the district police forces of Ujjain, Kanker, Gwalior, Jhabua and Indore on the alleged deaths of Namrata Damore, Vijay Patel, Rajendra Arya, journalist Akshay Singh and Deepak Verma, sources said.
Mr Chouhan, who was in New Delhi for the Niti Aayog meeting, also attended the BJP chief ministers’ meeting with party president Amit Shah. Mr Chouhan later held a separate meeting with Mr Shah, that was also attended by national general secretary (organisation) Ramlal and state general secretray (organisation) Arvind Menon. Sources said the pending state Cabinet reshuffle and appointments of chairmen of local bodies were discussed.
In New Delhi, the Congress released a document that purported to show Mr Pradhan and some top BJP and RSS leaders having received favours from Sudhir Sharma. Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh and Randeep Surjewala released documents at a press conference, based on information claimed to have been recovered from a pen drive seized from Mr Sharma by the income-tax department. They alleged that besides Mr Pradhan, the accused was making payments to senior BJP leader Prabhat Jha, his two sons, senior RSS leader Suresh Soni and BJP MP Anil Dave. The Congress insisted that a fair probe was not possible without the removal of Mr Chouhan and alleged that he had protected the guilty.
Hitting back at the Congress, BJP secretary Siddharth Nath Singh said the Madhya Pradesh high court-appointed SIT had probed these charges and given “clean chits”. “Now the CBI is looking into it. Let them investigate,” he said. BJP spokesman G.V.L. Narasimha Rao told PTI: “It is a stale story. The Congress is living in the past. It is rehashing old charges which have nothing to do with Vyapam. It is only exhibiting its desperation.”
Mr Pradhan, whose travel tickets were allegedly booked by the Vyapam accused, said he knew Sudhir Sharma as he was an ABVP activist but insisted that it was the BJP office that booked his tickets whenever he travelled for party work.
