Madhya Pradesh Political Punch: Using Opportunity, Growing Troubles, Seeking Relief & More

Who is the industrialist?

A statement, recently issued by a former chief minister of the Congress over the fall of the party’s government in the state, has caused ripples in the water lying stagnant for five years. The politician blamed a former chief minister and his friend for the government’s fall. He also said a dinner party was held in the house of an industrialist where the issue of saving the government was discussed.

This statement also stirred up a hornet’s nest in the Congress, whose leaders are trying to find the name of the industrialist in whose house the meeting was held. There are reports that the industrialist, a resident of Delhi, owns a media house. He has a good relationship with the Congress leaders who defected to the BJP as well as with the two former chief ministers of the party. This was the reason that the meeting was held in his house. Another Congress leader was also present at the meeting, but his name was not disclosed. The former chief minister’s disclosure also startled the leader whose name was kept secret.

Using opportunity

The BJP has the expertise of using the organisation and the government. An example of it was recently seen. The BJP’s national president was coming to Jabalpur to participate in a family function. When the BJP leaders got the information about his trip to Jabalpur, the government and the organisation fixed their programmes.

The party organisation arranged for the meetings of its four divisions. The leaders of the four divisions were asked to reach Jabalpur. The government, too, organised a function in which the members of the organisation and the government were present. The important leaders of the party in the state also held discussions with the party’s national president. Because the in-laws of the national leader live in Jabalpur, he often visits the place, and the state BJP leaders get an opportunity to organise the party’s programmes during his trip. But the leaders, who came to Jabalpur from far-off places to attend the event, were slightly upset.

In limelight

A minister of the state cabinet has again drawn the media attention. But the minister who always courts controversies has stolen the media headlines this time for positive reasons. The minister has penned a book that the RSS chief will release. The RSS chief does not generally release a book written by a politician, but keeping in mind the content of the book, he has agreed to release it.

The topic of the book has nothing to do with politics. The book discusses the minister’s experience with Narmada Parikrama. Several RSS and BJP leaders are likely to be present at the function where the book will be released. Another aspect of the book release is that the RSS head speaks a few things at book release functions, which become media headlines. Just three days before the function, the RSS head will be 75 years old. He may say something important. This is the reason that many senior politicians have kept their eyes on the event.

Growing troubles

There seems to be no let-up in troubles for the legislators in the state. The name of another legislator has been added to the list of worried lawmakers. The district administration has tightened the noose around a BJP legislator, who is considered a top-rank leader of the ruling party. In the old regime, the legislator was very influential. He was so important that everything used to happen in the district only with his consent.

But now, the situation has come to such a pass that the police raided the farmhouse belonging to a close relative of the legislator. There are reports that tension between a minister and the legislator was the reason behind the raid on the farmhouse. The minister came to know that some unlawful activities were going on in the farmhouse of the legislator’s relative. The minister swung into action and got a raid conducted at the farmhouse. It is, however, difficult to digest the fact that the agencies took such an action against the MLA’s relative without the state government’s consent. The people in the corridors of power are trying to discover the reasons behind such a sudden action against the relative of the legislator. Some of them are trying to connect the incident with the upcoming state cabinet expansion. But after the raid, the relationship between the government and the legislator has soured.

Seeking relief

A former minister of the state who has lost the assembly election is in trouble. When he was a minister, he had a huge government bungalow in the state capital, where his daughter and son-in-law were also living with him. Even after losing the election, the minister kept the bungalow with him for a long time. Nobody said anything to him about it. But a notice was recently sent to him. A huge amount was sought from him by imposing rent and penalty for the number of days he stayed in the bungalow after his defeat in the election.

Now, the former minister is cursing the officials who gave him permission to stay in the house, for the officials never told him that he would have to pay a penalty as well as the rent for not vacating the house. Now, he is moving from the home department to the CM office to get relief from paying such a huge amount. Several months have passed since he began to seek relief, but there is none to listen to him. The former minister does not want to pay the money and does not want the issue to go to the media, fearing defamation in the public. 

Headless chicken!

A ruling party legislator from Bhind brandishing a fist at the collector has muddied the political waters. But the Congress is in a dilemma over whether it should stand by the legislator or back the collector who remains unruffled in the face-off with the politician. The state Congress president has thrown his lot with the ruling party legislator, for the latter was concerned about the shortage of fertiliser. On the contrary, the Leader of the Opposition had no slant towards anyone. A Congress leader from Bhind opened a front against the lawmaker of the ruling dispensation, accusing him of mounting pressure on the collector. The purpose is to prevent the district administration from acting against the illegal sand mining in the area. People in the corridors of power are waiting for government action in the case. Ergo, the Congress leaders’ failure to speak in unison over a trivial incident shows it is running around like a headless chicken.