Ally SP attacks MP govt, says ministers arrogant

Bhopal: A legislator of Samajwadi Party (SP), an ally of Kamal Nath government, on Thursday sounded alarming bell in ruling Congress here, when he described some state ministers as incompetent and arrogant.

Rajesh Shukla, who has extended outside support to the Kamal Nath government along with two Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLAs and four Independents, has made a scathing attack on some ministers in the state cabinet, saying, “Ministers think themselves as God. They do not give appointment to MLAs. How can a MLA function in the situation? I have drawn chief minister Kamal Nath’s attention to this”.

He also described how state women and child welfare minister Imarti Devi had earlier dismissed his plea to meet her to discuss issues relating to his constituency, saying, “We are not slaves of either Kamal Nath or Samajwadi Party”.

“I have told this to chief minister,” Mr Shukla said. Similarly, he also narrated his ordeal when he sought an audience with state forest minister Umang Singh.

“I sat outside the chamber of officer on special duty (OSD) of the minister for an hour. I was not even offered a glass of water. I could not get an appointment with the minister,” he said.

Even conditions of Congress MLAs were worse than me; he claimed and added that the ruling party legislators preferred to keep mum, fearing disciplinary actions by their party.

Incidentally, the two ministers named by Mr Shukla belonged to camp of senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia.

The MLA’s outburst particularly, against the two ministers, came a day after two Congress legislators said to be loyalists of Mr Scindia, questioned the role of state cooperation minister Govind Singh, said to be belonging to camp of veteran Congress leader Digvijay Singh, in the illegal sand mining being carried out in major rivers in Madhya Pradesh.

BJP took the opportunity to pounce upon the Kamal Nath government, saying the development clearly indicated division in the Congress Legislature Party.

A spokesman of Congress however, said the issue would be resolved by the chief minister soon.