Even as Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan continues on his ambitious “vikas yatra”, the opposition has demanded the resignation of his home minister, alleging irregularities committed in his name by an acquaintance.
Leader of opposition and Congress MLA Ajay Singh demanded the resignation of Madhya Pradesh home minister Umashankar Gupta, after one of his alleged acquaintances was arrested by Bhopal police on Wednesday on charges of fraud.
“The home minister's relative Sharad Avasthi has been running a scam and duping innocent people by offering them police jobs against huge sums of money. In doing that he has been using the BJP state president name as a guarantee,” said leader of opposition Ajay Singh.
“Encouraged by this government's protection, he has now started harassing people by playing Lokayukta. The CM should stop making tall claims about being tough on corruption and ask the home minister's resignation,” said Mr. Singh.
The person in question, Sharad Avasthi, was arrested by Bhopal police on Wednesday after he duped an officer's wife by acting to be from the Lokayukta and “confiscated” jewellery from her worth lakhs of rupees.
A local newspaper had recently carried reports about a person named Sharad Awasthi, claiming to be an acquaintance of Mr. Gupta and promising police jobs to people against money.
The home minister has flatly denied any association with Mr. Avasthi.
