Congress used Vyapam ammo, but fields scam-accused

BHOPAL: Congress has walked into a controversy by giving a ticket to Vyapam-accused Phundelal Singh Marko from Pushprajgarh constituency. He is the sitting Congress MLA, but eyebrows are raised at his renomination, considering that AICC chief Rahul Gandhi is attacking MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan and the BJP government on the Vyapam scam. A few days ago, Congress inducted Vyapam-accused BJP leader Gulab Singh Kirar but made a U-turn as soon as some top leaders objected. The party’s defence — that it’s not Marko but his son who is an accused in the CBI case - may not sound very convincing to voters, who have followed the twists and turns in this case. Marko had beaten two-time BJP MLA Sudama Singh in 2013 to wrest Pushprajgarh for Congress despite a wave in Chouhan’s favour.

According to Vyapam scam whistleblower Ashish Chaturvedi, Marko and his son were named as accused by Special Task Force. CBI took over the probe in July 2015 and is yet to give a clean chit to the father-son duo. Marko’s son was accused of using unfair means to secure a seat in Gwalior Medical College in 2009. He was the main accused in the case and his MLA father named co-accused for allegedly financing his son to get admission through bribe, say sources. When TOI contacted Marko, he said: “They failed to present a chargesheet against me, and hence the charges were dropped.” He switched off his mobile, saying he would talk about it later. But calls didn’t get through to him after this.

When Congress state vice-president for media, Bhupendra Gupta, was asked why the party repeated Marko from Pushprajgarh when it took no time to wash its hands of Gulab Singh Kirar, he said: “As far as we know, Marko was made an accused by STF but he is not an accused on the CBI list. However, even if you are right, the case is sub judice and he can’t be adjudged guilty at this point of time.”