Bhopal: After Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh called raids by central agencies in Madhya Pradesh without informing the state authorities a body blow to the country’s federal structure and wondered how much wealth I-T officers would have recovered had they visited former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s residence.
Referring to Chouhan as ‘Mamaji’, a name the former CM loves being addressed as, Singh said, “Imagine how much money would have been recovered if Mamaji’s residence was raided by the I-T department.” Singh was talking to reporters at the inauguration of his office for the Lok Sabha election in the Malviya Nagar area in Bhopal.
When asked if the raids would dent the Congress’ Lok Sabha campaign in MP, the two-time chief minister claimed the man at whose residence the cash had been recovered was a BJP worker.
“Ours is a federal structure and the manner in which the I-T officers accompanied by CRPF personnel carried out raids in MP without informing the state authorities is a serious attack on the federal structure,” Singh said.
He added that normally agencies like the Income Tax (I-T) department, Enforcement Directorate and Central Board of Direct Taxes don’t issue any statement up to 90 days of any action, but this time, the official statement was issued soon after the raids were carried out.
Stating the crisis was prevalent across the country, the Rajya Sabha MP said N Chandrababu Naidu had been opposing the Centre’s attitude towards Andhra Pradesh, the same was being done by DMK leader MK Stalin in Tamil Nadu, while ministers in Karnataka have been under the I-T department’s lens for a while.
Singh said he would file his nomination on April 19 and release his vision document for the development of Bhopal two days later. He urged his supporters not to come to Bhopal for extending support on the day of nomination and asked them to hold party meetings in their respective areas.
He said that ‘aapki hissedari, meri zimmedari’ (your participation, my responsibility) would be his campaign slogan for the upcoming election.
Recounting his tenure as chief minister, Singh said he had decentralised the administration by delegating powers to panchayats at different levels as he was of the view that democracy wouldn’t succeed unless there was people’s participation.
The Congress veteran also recounted his Narmada yatra on the occasion.
Seer Maharaj Subhodhanand, who also attended the inaugural function, heaped praises on Singh’s yatra and said there were some who circumambulated the sacred river on udankhatola (chopper) and ignored the cheerharan (illegal mining) in the river.
A massive crowd had gathered at the event and police had a difficult time managing traffic in the busy intersection.
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