BHOPAL: Opposition Congress in Madhya Pradesh is planning to move the Supreme Court a day after an audio went viral in which Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is purportedly heard telling his party workers that the BJP’s central leadership had decided to topple the Kamal Nath-led government.
“What we’ve been saying for the past two months has been proved correct by the MP CM. His words have proved beyond doubt that a popular government headed by Kamal Nath was dislodged by the Central government,” state Congress media in-charge and former minister Jeetu Patwari said on Wednesday.
“We’re consulting legal experts for going to the Supreme Court in the matter. Even if we don’t knockn the court door as a party, any individual might petition the top court,” Patwari added.
Former CM Kamal Nath tweeted over the issue: “I’ve been saying this from day one that our government, which had public mandate, was toppled due to conspiracy. The government had taken many pro-people steps such as waiving off farmers' loans, youth employment and women's security.”
Congress’s Rajya Sabha member and legal eagle Vivek Tankha also tweeted, “... BJP won in the short run due to the BJP plot. But it’s the defeat of our Constitution and democratic values. Forming or toppling government with money power represents retrograde political mindset.”
An audio clip allegedly containing MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s address to party workers in Indore on Monday had gone viral on Tuesday.
In the clip, Chouhan is heard saying, “Kendriya netritatva nein tay kiya ki sarkar girni chahiye, barbad kar degi, tabah kar degi. Aur aap batao Jyotiraditya Scindia aur Tulsi Bhai ke bina sarkar gir sakti thee kya. Aur koi tarika nahi thaa. (It was the central leadership which had decided that government will be dislodged, else the government would have ruined everything. Tell me, was it possible to topple the government without Jyotiraditya Scindia and Tulsi Silawat. There wasn’t any other way.),” the CM said while addressing the party workers from Sanwer assembly segment at the Residency Kothi in Indore on Monday.
The CM went on to add, “Aaj mai Jyotiraditya Scindia aur Tulsi Bhai ka isliye swaagat karta hoon, kyonki BJP ki sarkar banana ke liye unhone mantripad chor diya. Ab ho rahein hai chunaav, imaandaari se batao ki Tulsi agar vidhayak nahi rahe toh hum CM rahenge kya… BJP ki sarkar bachegi kya (I welcome Jyotiraditya Scindia and Tulsi Silawat, as Tulsi Silawat left minister’s post for the formation of BJP government. In the coming bypoll if Tulsi Silawat doesn’t become MLA again, will I be able to remain CM, will the BJP government survive),” Chouhan said.
Meanwhile, state BJP convener Lokendra Parashar said, “Talking to party workers in a lighter vein is an old tradition. If you want to know why the Congress government collapsed, then it’s better to ask Kamal Nath, who in the past said that his government fell as it relied on Digvijaya Singh’s assurances. As a responsible opposition party, the BJP formed the government in the state after the fall of the Congress government.”