On the last day of withdrawals, the Congress released its manifesto. Before the release of the manifesto a chargesheet containing serious charges against the BJP government was also made public. The chargesheet list several scams during the ten-year BJP rule. The Congress chargesheet caused angry reactions in the BJP. The reaction was so sharp that the BJP decided to complain with the Election Commission, describing the charges as totally baseless. A delegation led by chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan visited the Election Office. After filing a formal complaint, the chief minister said that they would also file a defamation suit against the Congress.

The chargesheet lists scams worth Rs 1,46,000 crores. The chargesheet refers to 17 major scams and financial irregularities by various ministers.

The list includes the NREGS scam of about Rs. 30 crore in which the kin of PWD minister Nagendra Singh have been implicated. A scam involving the purchase of electricity without a valid tender amounting to Rs.32,109 crore also figured on the list.

Another scam involving the purchase of wheat at the Minimum support price worth Rs.3.25 crore and a Rs.1,031 crore scam, which came to light during raids conducted over the past three years by various anti-corruption agencies, figured in the charge-sheet.

The charge-sheet also mentions another scam of Rs. 20 crore in the PWD department, irregularities of Rs.600 crore in the name of eradication of malnutrition, Rs. 50,000 crore raised through illegal mining, bungling in the government treasury which cost the exchequer another Rs. 50,000 crore, the disappearance of about Rs.65 crore earmarked for the Deendayal Upchar Yojna, a Rs. 500-crore scandal involving medical purchases in the health department, another Rs. 108-crore scam in the loan-waiver scheme for farmers and a Rs.5,000-crore scam in the water resources department.

The chief minister’s discretionary fund also makes it to the list with a Rs.76-crores discrepancy. A Rs.5,250-crore scam in allotting land to Gammon India and Rs.260 crore gone missing during the Tendupatta bonus distribution is part of the major financial irregularities till September 30, 2013.

“The speed of financial scams under Chouhan rule can well be judged by the fact that from September 30 to October 4, 2013 alone, the state government has been implicated in scams totalling more than Rs.1,000 crore,” leader of opposition Ajay Singh said, adding that the Vyapam scandal, involving the professional examination board, had turned out to be one of the biggest in the history of the state. The board not only conducts PMT and engineering tests, but is also responsible for the recruitment of policemen, clerks, teachers and many other professionals employed in Madhya Pradesh government.

“Details of the phone calls of the director of Vyapam, Pankaj Trivedi, should be tracked by an investigating agency and I’m sure the trail will lead straight to the CM’s house and Bhabhi ji,” Singh said, adding that when Laxmikant Sharma was mining minister, he had presided over a scam in that department and soon after he became higher education minister, the Vyapam scam had come to the fore. Sharma was close to the chief minister and a proper investigation would establish the nexus of corruption between the two, Singh alleged.

Singh said Chief Minister Chouhan’s financial status and that of his family had undergone a tremendous change since 2003. “How could Sadhna Singh, a person with a total annual income of Rs.87,518 in 2003, land up with huge godowns in the village of Bais in Vidisha district? These have since been rented out at exorbitant rates despite being located within 100 meters of an ASI-protected site, which is illegal,” Singh said.

The CM’s brother-in-law, Sanjay Masani used fake documents to procure contracts worth several crores, Singh added, going on the say that Masani also got himself registered as an accredited journalist to take advantage of government facilities. Masani’s wife, Jyoti Singh, bought a bungalow at Chuna Bhatti at a throwaway price and also cheated revenue officials by evading valid stamp duty, Singh said, Even the CM’s brother, Rohit Chouhan, used fake documents to register himself as a government contractor and earned crores, while about a dozen family members of CM got plots at throwaway prices at Bhopal’s Rohit Society. Singh added that Narendra Singh Chouhan, the chief minister’s brother, had even been accused of buying land belongs to people from the SC/ST community.

The leader of opposition alleged that funds sent by the Union government had been siphoned off through various scams in the state and, as a parting shot, added that the BJP government’s slogan could well be ‘Swarnim Madhya Pradesh’, but the very same government had left voters in state with a mammoth debt burden of about Rs.92,000 crore.

Besides scam chargesheet, both the BJP and Congress got involved in a fierce controversy following the release of the Election Manifesto of the Congress. The Congress manifesto almost promises the moon to the electorate. The Congress promises free ration for poor, Laptops for students and waiver of farm loans. It also says that meritorious students will get scooties and colleges students, Tablets. Observers feel that political parties promise freebies without giving any consideration to the resources the state has. It is regrettable that no party spells out the measures, which will be required to be taken to fulfill the promise they make.

At present the BJP is trying for a third term in office. There is general impression that while chief minister Chouhan himself enjoys popular support, which is helping the party get an edge over the Congress, the anti-incumbency factor may affect the prospects of several ministers and legislators whose image stands tarnished because of their several acts of commission and omission. The final picture will emerge after a week or so. By that time, the electorate would have made up its mind. (IPA Service)