Another major trouble has been caused by the state Governor Ramnaresh Yadav, who has asked the Chief Minister to re-convene the adjourned session of the Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha to discuss the opposition-sponsored no confidence motion.

The diaries belong to two mining barons of the state. They are Dilip Suryavanshi and Sudhir Sharma. Both are regarded as very close to various powerful leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Suryavanshi is reported to be very close to the chief minister himself while Sudhir Sharma's intimate relations with cabinet Minister Laxmikant Sharma are known in the political circles of the state.

The diaries were allegedly found during Income tax raids on the business premises and residences of Suryavanshi and Sudhir Sharma in June last year. The diaries contained details of alleged bribes paid to Rajendra Shukla, minister for mineral resources and Laxmikant Sharma, minister for higher education and public relations. Besides the two ministers, the diaries contain names of certain high officials of the state government as recipients of bribes.

Also among the documents recovered during raids was a letter, purportedly written by Sharma's mining business partner JS Walia to the then BJP president Nitin Gadkari, seeking his help in getting a mining licence. The entries divulge that payment of Rs. 50 lakhs was made for the project to Minister Rajendra Shukla, Rs. 20 lakhs to the Secretary of the department, Rs. 10 lakhs to officer-on-special duty of the Minister and Rs. 5 lakh to under-secretary. In another instance, the income tax Department claims to have recovered details of text messages to substantiate the pay-off entries. One entry shows that 'Laxmikant Ji' received Rs. 5 lakh in two installments and a text message says '5 Kg to Laxmikant Ji tomorrow' (spelling as written in the message) I will send'. The income tax report claims that 'Kg' is the code for the amount in lakhs. Walia's letter of June 19, 2012 asked Gadkari to instruct Shukla to give a prospecting license to SR group's associate firm Broken Hill Mining Company.

Opposition sources claim that MP mining scandal is as big as that of Karnataka. The income tax investigations reveal that Survanshi's DBL group and Sharma's SR group had mined iron ore worth between Rs. 3000 to Rs. 4000 crore in around six years but had shown only a 'miniscule' portion of this in their accounts. The income tax report alleges that payment of illegal gratification, particularly to the officials of the regulatory authorities like forest department, environment department, district collector, police department etc. clearly indicate that these payments have been made so that unaccounted production and sale of minerals continues smoothly and unabated.

Besides ministers and high officials, Suryavanshi and Sudhir Sharma spent substantial sum to keep to BJP politicians and even RSS stalwarts happy. Various documents, seized by the income tax department reveal that one of the methods used was to finance air travels of BJP leaders and even of a top functionary of the RSS. Those whose air travels costs were paid for include RSS top leader. Suresh Soni, BJP Vice-President Prabhat Jha, BJP Rajya Sabha member Anil Madhav Dave, BJP leaders Tapan Bhowmick, Vijesh Lunawat, Uttam Swamy and Sanjay Saraf and also Culture Minister Laxmikant Sharma. Pankaj Chaturvedi of Air Aman Travels told the media that they had given all the details of Sudhir Sharma's bookings from their outlet to the Income Tax Department. He admitted that payment of bills for air travels of BJP leaders was sometimes made by Sudhir Sharma but it was not a common practice. 'I would say 30 per cent of the BJP bills were paid by Sharma'. Both Jha and Dave deny the allegations said that they are Members of Parliament and the cost of their travels is borne by the Parliament. But it appears that both Jha and Dave failed to mention that there is a ceiling on the air travels of MPs. Even if we accept the explanation of Jha and Dave, what about non-MPs like RSS leader Suresh Soni. It may be mentioned here that Suresh Soni is RSS in charge for Madhya Pradesh. His intervention in MP affairs is well-known. His word to the Chief Minister and the government amounts to an order. Therefore, if he takes obligations from a corrupt business house then the RSS' claim being a holy cow appears to be hollow. Thus the spate of allegations against BJP stalwarts has made Chief Minister Chauhan's position untenable.

Another major trouble being faced by the chief minister is state Governor Ram Naresh Yadav's advice to him to hold a sitting of Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha, which was adjourned sine die without completing the business, including a debate on Congress-sponsored no-confidence motion.

The state government is yet to take a decision on the highly delicate issue. (IPA Service)