Congress MLA Says Public Fund Used For BJP's Food, Madhya Pradesh Government Replies

The Bharatiya Janata Party unit in Madhya Pradesh has refuted allegations by Congress MLA Jitu Patwari that the state government had spent crores of public money to arrange food for ruling party functionaries between 2014 and 2018. Calling the allegations as "totally" false, the party legislators have said that they will lodge a complaint to the 'Prashna aur Sambandh Samiti (reference committee of the House) for necessary action.

During the debate over the no confidence motion in Madhya Pradesh assembly on Wednesday, Congress MLA Jitu Patwari had alleged that Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan spent Rs 40 crores of public money to fund food for ruling party functionaries of BJP party office "90 times". In his long speech, the Congress MLA alleged that the state government had funded lunch, tea and dinner at party meets held at the Chief Minister's house between 2014 and 2018.

The next day, while Mr Chouhan was replying to the Congress' no-confidence motion in the Assembly, Mr Patwari said, "I wish to place a paper on the table of the House in which I was informed through the public relation department that it had arranged for food for the BJP 90 times. The BJP office is mentioned in the paper, which is signed by officials."

Mr Patwari claimed, a cup of tea was served at Rs 400 while the food was charged at Rs 2,000 a plate.

The Congress leader said if the paper was found to be fake, then his House membership may be cancelled, but if it is true, then action must be taken against officials who are involved.

Reacting to Mr Patwari's statement, Chief Minister Chouhan had said, "You are misleading the House. I can say with full responsibility that not a single paisa of the government was spent on serving food to BJP workers." While Mr Patwari refused to back down, Chouhan too stood his ground amid ruckus from the opposition and treasury benches.

Addressing a press conference on Friday, state home minister Narottam Mishra, who is also the spokesperson of the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government, called Mr Patwari's statement a "big lie".

"He (Patwari) waved only Page A in the House. On Page B, it is clearly mentioned payment (for the food) was made by the BJP office. It (question and answer) was written when Patwari was the minister (in the Congress government led by Kamal Nath). He arranged this reply through his government (of that time) to defame the BJP," Mr Mishra alleged.

Mr Mishra further said the issue was a ploy to divert people's attention from the "Rs 131 crore scam" that took allegedly took place in the state public relations department when Kamal Nath was Chief Minister (between December 2018 and March 2020).

The BJP legislators have decided to lodge a complaint to Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha's questions and reference committee against Jeetu Patwari remarks.

"While he (Patwari) waived the copy of one annexure of the 2019 document (reply to Congress MLA Kunal Chaudhary's question), he didn't show the copy of the second annexure, which clearly mentioned that bills of all BJP-related events (held at CM House) were paid by the party only and not the government. The BJP legislators will complain to Vidhan Sabha's questions and reference committee against Mr Patwari for making false statements in the House and demand action against him," Mr Mishra said.