Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh and Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan are caught in a slanging match after the Congress leader urged the Union minister for food and public distribution K.V. Thomas over this weekend to set up a committee to probe allegations of corruption in procurement of wheat in the state.
Mr Digvijay Singh has, particularly, slammed the state BJP government by saying wheat meant for the public distribution system had been diverted for fresh procurement at collection centres in Madhya Pradesh during the latest procurement season. Mr Chouhan responded to the Congress leader’s charge on Sunday by saying it is nothing but an outburst of frustration from the Congress side as the state BJP government had successfully procured more than 80 lakh tonnes of wheat from the farmers this year. Drawing attention to the bumper crop, Mr Chouhan said that the Congress general secretary has heaped insult on the Madhya Pradesh farmers by questioning their efforts and capacity, which has led to record harvest.
Rebutting the charge that wheat meant for public distribution had been diverted for procurement at the collection centres on the support price fixed by the government, Mr Chouhan said if this is true, it would mean that the public distribution system has failed and the poor were not getting wheat at subsidised rates in Madhya Pradesh. Since the public distribution system is working normally, the charge carries no weight, said Mr Chouhan.
Mr Digvijay Singh has written to the Union minister for public distribution alleging that there has been large-scale fudging of revenue records by the state procurement agencies and to drive home his point, he has pointed out that records have been concocted to show purchase of wheat from farmers who had not produced any wheat.