Reminding him of his “active role” in defending freedom of expression during Emergency and his efforts to fight corruption through a nationwide rath yatra last year, the Congress has sought senior BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani’s “direct intervention to stop rampant corruption in Madhya Pradesh.”
In a letter, Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Ajay Singh urged the former Deputy Prime Minister to step in and take strict action against BJP leaders in the party and in the government as “corruption had reached seriously worrying levels in Madhya Pradesh.”
The letter sent on July 7 has not evoked any response.
“I expect that from you because you took out a nationwide yatra against corruption last year,” Mr. Singh wrote. “The BJP government’s political protection to corruption was exposed recently following income-tax raids on two businessmen who had strong connections with the Chief Minister, the State BJP president and senior RSS office-bearers,” he said.
Mr. Singh said the Opposition had brought out the misdeeds of the two businessmen and their political connections by way of a no-confidence motion last year. But the government, instead of acting against them, rewarded one of them by appointing him as chairperson of an official think tank in the State capital.
Further, when the Opposition tried to question Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on these issues through hoardings and newspaper advertisements, the government had the hoardings removed.
“There is an undeclared state of emergency in Madhya Pradesh. The government had our hoardings removed and put pressure on newspapers not to carry our advertisements. Is this silencing of political opposition not a black chapter in the State’s democratic history” Mr. Singh asked Mr. Advani.
