Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s high-tech bus, modified as a chariot for his ‘Jan Ashirwad Yatra’, was pelted with stones at Kalukhedi village in Ratlam district on Monday evening. This is the second such attack on the Chief Minister’s chariot this month.
Mr. Chouhan escaped unhurt in the incident but two policemen suffered injuries and three police vehicles were damaged in the attack, said a senior officer.
State Home Minister Bhupendra Singh said a probe has been launched into the incident and two persons have been arrested.
Ratlam district Superintendent of Police Gaurav Tiwari said a case has been registered at the Tal police station and a search operation is under way to nab the miscreants. The police have conducted raids at Tal, Barkheda Kala, Mahidpur Road, Khachrod villages.
Cong. condemns attack
Pradesh Congress Committee president Kamal Nath condemned the incident but said, “One should understand that in several places people are angry with the government because it has failed to come up to their expectations.”
Stones were hurled at Mr. Chouhan’s chariot earlier too when he was passing through Patpara village in Sidhi district on September 2. The window of the vehicle was damaged in the incident. A few hours later, a shoe was hurled at the Chief Minister allegedly by members of the Karni Sena at a public meeting in Sidhi.
Mr. Chouhan had accused workers of the Congress of being involved in the attack. The three-time Chief Minister had even challenged the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Ajay Singh to “come out in the open and fight with him”. “The Congress is baying for my blood. No politician has stooped so low in Madhya Pradesh,” Mr. Chouhan had alleged.
Mr. Singh, meanwhile, had denied any involvement of his party workers in the two incidents. Three days later, he produced before the media in Bhopal a person named Sandeep Chaturvedi, a resident of Sidhi district, who alleged that the police were forcing him to become a witness in the case related to the stone pelting on the CM’s chariot. Mr. Chaturvedi even circulated his statement on an affidavit to media persons.
Recently, the Karni Sena took responsibility for the stone pelting incident.
