The Madhya Pradesh Congress has demanded that Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan step down after a string of income tax raids on premises of a builder, who the party believes is linked to a Minister, revealed unaccounted for transactions and properties.
“The builder is linked to Cooperatives Minister Arvind Singh Bhadoria who played a pivotal role in toppling the Kamal Nath government in March,” alleged Congress Gwalior-Chambal media in-charge K.K. Mishra. “The sources of black money being unearthed were used to buy over our legislators.”
Around 150 officials from the Income Tax department raided 20 premises belonging to Faith Group’s Raghvendra Singh Tomar and others here and in neighbouring Sehore district. More than ₹1 crore in cash and documents relating to nearly 100 properties have been recovered, said an official of the department requesting anonymity.
Meanwhile, State Congress spokesperson Narendra Saluja tweeted, “In the past the same Minister publicly said Raghvendra Singh Tomar was like his younger brother. The BJP needs to clarify the Minister’s relations with Mr Tomar.”
Further, Mr. Mishra claimed that Mr. Tomar was an accused in the Vyapam scam and later made an approver. “The Chief Minister should accept his relations with him and dismiss the government,” Mr. Mishra demanded.
In March, 22 rebel Congress MLAs resigned from the Congress precipitating the fall of the 15-month Nath government, and paving the return of Mr. Chouhan as the Chief Minister. In the midst of political turmoil, they were cooped up at a resort in Bengaluru, from where photographs emerged then showing Mr. Bhadoria along with them. The MLAs later joined the BJP along with Jyotiraditya Scindia.
Dyning the Minister’s link with the builder, BJP State spokesman Hitesh Bajpai said the Narendra Modi government had zero-tolerance towards corruption. “The Congress didn’t raise a voice for 15 months, and the political charge is useless now. Mr. Nath has been harbouring corruption for these months and the raids are troubling him now.”