Two days after the panchayat and urban body elections were held in Madhya Pradesh, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party faced serious allegations from its own legislator who alleged that the party used government machinery for its own benefit.
Four-time BJP MLA from Maihar in Satna district Narayan Tripathi on Thursday said government employees ranging from a ‘patwari’ to the top level have been seen campaigning for the party during the recent local state elections.
Tripathi said, “I am not against the BJP, but what is happening really hurts me.”
He said, “I am visiting this area (Maihar). All the office bearers from patwari to the top are seen campaigning for a particular party. The officials are busy garnering votes for the BJP. I Am a BJP MLA but when I see such incidents I feel pained and upset. Today in this country the government can be toppled in two minutes. The same is happening in the local body elections too. Lest they happen. “
The allegations have come as a major embarrassment for the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government, which came to power in 2020 following the fall of the Kamal Nath-led Congress government following the exit of former Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia and his loyalists.
Responding to Tripathi’s allegations, senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Digvijay Singh said, “There is someone in the BJP who dared to speak the truth. Congratulations and thank you Narayan Tripathi ji, you have exposed the pain of thousands of contestants. The presiding officers have openly throttled democracy.”
Tripathi, who has been demanding the formation of Vindhya Pradesh for the last several years, has criticized the BJP on several occasions in the past as well.
He won from Maihar in 2003 as a Samajwadi Party candidate, in 2013 as a Congress candidate, in 2016 by-elections as a BJP candidate and again in 2018 on a BJP ticket.
He was among two BJP MLAs who voted along with legislators of the then ruling Congress against a bill in the state assembly in July 2019.
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