On the third day of senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L.K. Advani’s Janchetna Yatra in Madhya Pradesh, Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly Ajay Singh “Rahul” on Saturday threw up a volley of questions putting the state BJP government in the dock on the issue of corruption and utilisation of funds earmarked for Central schemes.
Mr Singh has asked Mr Advani to answer these questions that are being asked by the public before he leaves Madhya Pradesh. His first question is why 11 state ministers continue to hold office when they are facing investigation by the Lokayukta. Why the government is holding back permission to prosecute corrupt officers, he has asked pointing out there are 37 IAS. officers and 16 IPS officers under the Lokayukta scanner.
He has also raised the issue of 3 IAS officers, who continue to remain in service even after their houses were raided and crores of rupees were seized by the income-tax department.
Mr Singh has asked Mr Advani to explain what is being done when there are about a dozen state ministers, whose relatives have been arrested in cases of murder, loot and atrocities against women. The police is being forced to build weak cases against them and as a result there is an atmosphere of lawlessness and people are living under constant fear in the state. There is also rampant corruption in the allotment of mining permits to the relatives of ministers and government officers. Besides the state ministers and ruling BJP leaders also have huge stakes in colonies and real estate business in almost all cities across the state.