The ruling party wants to leave no stone unturned to make sure the 'truth' about Madhya Pradesh chief minister’s efforts to get to the bottom of the case. Shashikant Trivedi reports
The Bharatiya Janata Party plans to launch a sub-campaign under the ongoing Maha Jan Sampark Abhiyan (mega membership drive) in Madhya Pradesh to reveal the ‘truth’ behind the Vyapam scam. To counter the criticism by opposition parties and the media of the state government’s failure in preventing the deaths of those connected with the scam, workers will be asked to be aggressive in the campaign, sources said.
The main agenda is not only to explain the chronology of the entire scam but reassure the masses that Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is the ‘real whistleblower’ who initiated investigation on the scam.
National BJP chief Amit Shah is in Bhopal to review the Maha Jan Sampark Abhiyan. Sources said Shah and other seniors would decide on the strategies for the sub-campaign. Chouhan had a meeting with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat in Bhopal but the agenda is not known.
“The Congress launched a plank to create political disturbances in an otherwise peaceful state,” said BJP state President Nandkumar Chauhan. “Our chief minister himself initiated the process of probe into the Vypam scam; he even appealed to the high court and the Supreme Court to initiate a CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) probe.”
A PTI report quoted him as saying: “The chief minister is as holy as the river Ganga and the CBI probe will prove it. All attempts of the Congress to defame Chouhan will ultimately lead to its further downfall in the state and the BJP will form the government in Madhya Pradesh for a record fourth consecutive term in 2018 under the leadership of Chouhan.”
He termed the opposition’s campaign of linking death incidences with Vyapam ‘baseless’ and ‘false’. “Most incidences of death had happened due to heart attack or road accidents,” he said.
He added out of a total of 7,00,000 admissions or recruitments made through Vyapam since it was constituted, irregularities were found in only 2,500 cases. According to party sources, the BJP received a good response to its Abhiyan. The party would contact the newcomers and hand them over documents pertaining to the Narendra Modi government's achievements, state government's achievements, the BJP's ideology, and the history of the party in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
“Now we will add another document that would contain the entire truth about the Vyapam scam and how the chief minister initiated the probe,” said Deepak Vijayavargiya, a party spokesperson. He added this was being done to defuse ‘wrong public perceptions’.
Shyam Jaju, BJP's national vice-president, had recently said in Bhopal that "Vyapam is a non-issue." He said the party had received 11.4 million 'missed calls' from Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh from people wanting to be members of the BJP.
According to party sources, Monday's proposed meeting of Bhagwat, Shah and BJP vice-president and in-charge of party affairs in Madhya Pradesh Vinay Sahastrabuddhe has nothing to do with the Vyapam scam. "It was planned a month back so it has nothing to do with the Vyapam scam," said Vijayavargiya.
Meanwhile, the Congress has launched a fresh attack on the BJP and RSS. The party's national general secretary Mohan Prakash said in Bhopal on Sunday, "When Bhagwat talks of morality to a high degree, why does he not demand resignation from the chief minister, who has ruined careers of thousands of students and several died in the scam recently?"
He was referring to a speech that Bhagwat had delivered on Saturday in Bhopal while releasing a book on mythological character Mandodari in Ramayana written by Goa Governor Mridula Sinha.
Photograph: PTI
