Cong stages sit-in against Government

Bhopal, May 13: The Madhya Pradesh Congress on Tuesday staged a sit-in in front of Roshanpura square in the state capital to protest against rampant corruption in the state government and the failure of the BJP to fulfill its electoral promises. The sit-in began at 11 am under the leadership of state Congress President Suresh Pachauri.

Opposition leader Jamuna Devi, party office-bearer Rameshwar Neekhra, party legislators Arif Aqueel and PC Sharma, Congress spokesperson Manak Agrawal and Mayor Sunil Sood took part in the sit-in along with others. Posters depicting dumpers purchased by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's wife Sadhna Singh were put up at the site. Pachauri lambasted the BJP-ruled state government over corruption, failure to fulfill promises, power and water crisis and its high-handedness in discharge of constitutional duties. Calling upon Congressmen to set aside differences and work together, he assured that the Congress would work with full dedication against anti-public polices of the BJP Government.

Alleging that the state government was spreading disinformation against the Centre, Pachauri claimed that the Centre had provided adequate funds to the state but it was being misutilised. Adequate funds had been provided for the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), the Sarvashiksha Abhiyan, the Pradhan Mantri Sadak Yojana and other schemes. He charged the government for not collecting coal allocated for power production and food-grain meant for the Public Distribution System in time. The Congress leader demanded resignation from Chouhan in view of the Madhya Pradesh High Court verdict in the much-debated dumpers' purchase case. He pointed out that corruption case has been registered by the Lokayukt against the Chief Minister and eight others.

Referring to Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi's visit to Bundelkhand region, Pachauri said several irregularities had been detected in the implementation of the NREGS. Besides, groundwater level has gone down and there is acute power crisis. “There is widespread discontentment against the government over non-payment of dearness allowance, non-regularising of daily wage employees and youths not getting employment,” he said. The Congress leader claimed that more than 124 instances of communal clashes took place in the past four and half years due to faulty policies of the government.