Kishore Samrite takes ‘U’ turn

Bhopal, Mar 27: Madhya Pradesh Samajwadi Party legislator Kishore Samrite, who exposed Congress in bribery case in the run-up to Rajya Sabha elections and levelled grave allegations against senior SP leaders, on Thursday, took a U turn by again clutching the SP fold and his suspension from the party was also revoked.

SP National General Secretary Amar Singh while talking to media persons here along with Samrite announced the revocation and also lavished praise on the MLA for the expose. The political development is being viewed as crucial on the eve of Upper House polls here for three seats. Singh, who reached here in the afternoon from an SP national convention underway at Jabalpur, said, “I have had discussions with seven of this state's eight SP legislators. I will speak to the eighth MLA Vijay Bahadur Singh Bundela by evening. They will vote in favour of Congress-supported independent candidate Vivek Krishna Tankha.”

Dodging a poser on Samrite lodging a police complaint against him, Singh said, “Elders should forgive.” Pointing out that Samrite had alerted the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and police of the bribery, Singh alleged that it was a grave failure by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his administration that the accused was not caught red-handed. “Even a section of the press, which reached the spot for a sting operation, could not bring out the truth,” he said. After much badgering by media, Samrite mentioned that the police officer concerned had already said that no case could be registered against Singh on the basis of his complaint.

Before Amar Singh reached Bhopal, Samrite had called on Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan at his official residence where meeting of BJP MLAs was scheduled and all the MLAs had reached. Samrite claimed that he had gone to meet Chouhan demanding adequate security as directed by Vidhan Sabha Speaker Ishwardas Rohani. Later, SP leader of MLAs Sunilam informed that all the eight legislators are with the party and they are going to vote in favour of Vivek Tankha as directed by party leadership. The meeting of SP leader Amar Singh with senior Congress leader Gufran-e-Azam, who recently resigned from State Congress executive as a member, also raised speculations in political circles.