Ahead of the bypolls to 24 Assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh, a BJP MLA has called upon State Cooperatives Minister Govind Singh Rajput to focus on farmers instead of worrying about the election.
At a wholesale market in Shivpuri district, Kolaras MLA Virendra Singh Raghuvanshi accused the cooperative sector of corruption when it came to procurement of grains. “The reality is that the cooperative sector is looting farmers,” he said, despite the State government claiming it had procured 129.28 lakh tonnes of wheat, the highest in the country.
Further, he said he wanted to apprise Mr. Rajput about the problems faced by farmers. “He should stop worrying about the byelection, and worry at least a little about farmers too,” said Mr. Raghuvanshi.
He said Mr. Rajput could easily win in the name of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and on the symbol of the BJP. The Minister was among the 22 Congress MLAs who resigned as legislators pledging support to Jyotiraditya Scindia, precipitating the fall of the Kamal Nath government. As many as 16 of the seats fell in the Gwalior-Chambal division, Mr. Scindia’s stronghold and where Shivpuri is located.
Stating that he had requested Mr. Chouhan to extend the deadline for chickpea procurement, Mr. Raghuvanshi said, “Officials of the cooperative sector are so steeped in corruption that they are unwilling to listen to the Collector as well.”
Congress spokesman from the division K.K. Mishra said the legislator had voiced the views of the public. “Whereas, all sold out MLAs are only playing dirty politics.”
