Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The Madhya Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday refuted allegations by Congress MLA Jitu Patwari in the Assembly that the state public relations department had arranged food for ruling party functionaries "90 times".
MP Home Minister Narottam Mishra, who is also the spokesperson of the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government, and state BJP chief VD Sharma dubbed the allegations as "totally" false and said the ruling party would refer Patwari's remarks to the 'Prashna aur Sambandh Samiti (reference committee of the House) for necessary action.
While CM Chouhan was replying to the Congress' no-confidence motion in the Assembly on Thursday, Patwari said, "I wish to place a paper on the table of the House in which I was informed through the public relation department that it had arranged for food for the BJP 90 times. The BJP office is mentioned in the paper, which is signed by officials." Patwari said if the paper was found to be fake, then his House membership may be cancelled, but if it is true, then action must be taken against officials who are involved.
Reacting to Patwari's statement, CM Chouhan had said, "You are misleading the House. I can say with full responsibility that not a single paisa of the government was spent on serving food to BJP workers." While Patwari refused to back down, Chouhan too stood his ground amid ruckus from the opposition and treasury benches.
Addressing a press conference on Friday, state home minister Mishra called Patwari's statement a "big lie".
"He (Patwari) waved only Page A in the House. On Page B, it is clearly mentioned payment (for the food) was made by the BJP office. It (question and answer) was written when Patwari was the minister (in the Congress government led by Kamal Nath). He arranged this reply through his government (of that time) to defame the BJP," Mishra alleged.
Mishra further said the issue was a ploy to divert people's attention from the "Rs 131 crore scam" that took allegedly took place in the state public relations department when Nath was CM (between December 2018 and March 2020).
"It is a conspiracy to defame the BJP. There is no logic. The public relations and general administration departments have written 'nirank' (nil) as answer to these questions. They have also mentioned no information is available," Mishra asserted.
These (food) bills are raised by Hotel Palash (an MP tourism department hotel) where programmes of the government and party are organised, with the (organisers') name being mentioned in these bills.
Mishra mocked Patwari by saying some people had raised this non-issue in the Assembly in the absence of Nath and Leader of Opposition Govind Singh to increase their standing in the party, but had only succeeded in "driving their bus into a ditch".
In a separate press conference, MP BJP chief VD Sharma said Patwari had deliberately misled the Assembly by showing just part of a document and hiding the fact that the ruling party had paid these bills.
"The BJP will take legal action against Patwari," Sharma said.
Reacting on the issue, state Congress media department chairman KK Mishra said, "Patwari is a serious politician and has levelled charges against the government by waving documents. He is fully aware of the consequences of showing false papers. BJP should answer the charges instead of making a hue and cry." Efforts to contact Patwari to get his comments on the BJP's counter attack were in vain.
