The Hindu : National : ‘Chauhan must reveal those plotting his ouster'

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National

‘Chauhan must reveal those plotting his ouster'

Bhopal: The opposition on Monday demanded that Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan reveal the names of those who, he claimed, were collecting money to topple him. Mr. Chauhan had on Sunday said that persons associated with land and mining mafia were collecting funds to remove him from the post as he had launched a drive against them. “When the Chief Minister himself says that funds are being collected for his removal and he is afraid of them, then he should reveal the names of such persons,” the Deputy Leader of Congress in the State Assembly, Choudhry Rakesh Singh Chaturvedi, told reporters here.

Members of the Cabinet are also engaged in the drive to remove Mr. Chauhan from the post and openly level allegations of corruption against each other in the Cabinet meetings, he alleged.

Senior Congress MLA Ajay Singh said that while the legislature party elected its leaders in the State till now, “this is for the first time that the Chief Minister has himself admitted that some people were ganging up against him and also collecting money to remove him from the post.”

CPI-M State Secretary Badal Saroj termed the statement of the Chief Minister as dangerous for democracy and added that the admission of Mr. Chauhan on the issue proved that corruption and land mafia had become very powerful in the State.

Staff Reporter adds: Talking to the media in the Kotanaka village of Shivpuri district on Sunday, Mr. Chauhan, hinting at the State Industries Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya, had said that it was for everyone to see who were the powers backing the land mafia. Former Chief Minister and Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh also called Mr. Vijayvargiya the “biggest land mafia” in a statement on Sunday.

Mr. Chauhan had ordered a crackdown on the industrial city's land mafia after a series of land scam reports published in a Hindi daily with Mr. VIjayvargiya at the centre of the controversy.

Ever since the crackdown, which resulted in the arrest of influential builder Bobby Chhaabra, Mr. Chauhan has been under pressure to take action against Mr. Vijayvargiya.

After the sacking of state Health Minister Anup Mishra earlier this month for his son's involvement in a high-profile murder case, the pressure to act against Mr. Vijayvargiya has intensified.

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