Self goals galore in Madhya Pradesh politics

Bhopal: Loose cannons continue to embarrass both the Congress and BJP in Madhya Pradesh with self-goals. The scores for the week stood at two-all with both parties having suffered at the hands of two members each.

BJP member of the Lok Sabha K.P. Yadav was the latest scorer on Monday. Yadav, who had earlier been very close to Jyotiraditya Scindia before humbling him to snatch the Guna seat stoked a controversy after making a derogatory remark against Manju Sharma, Collector of Ashok Nagar district.

"She would earlier hop from village to village to meet the previous MP and was keen to kiss his feet. Today an MP himself came to meet her and she is refusing to address the issues. I'll sit here protesting on the road," Yadav said.

The video of his speech has gone viral.

Rajya Sabha MP and Congress leader Vivek Tankha had tweeted to question his party's government about illegal sand mining in several rivers including Narmada river, Chambal, Ken, Betwa and Kali Sindh.

"The operation of the mines requires transparency. 80 per cent of the ballast mines is in the grip of politicians. Royalty theft is a common practice. Just as the Narmada and other rivers have been exploited in the last 15 years, it is a symbol of public shame," he wrote.

To this Kamal Nath's co-operative minister, Govind Singh said: "For the past 15 years, we have fought against illegal mining, but eight months after our government came, we have not been able to do anything in this matter."

Singh has also apologised for the government's failure. His remarks came after MP Tankha's tweet. While Govind Singh has possibly earned a few morality points, the chief minister has been shown in poor light.

The third instance was when the ever-controversial BJP member of Lok Sabha from the state capital, Pragya Thakur, has blamed the opposition's sorcery for the recent deaths of the three senior leaders of her party.

At a meeting to pay tribute to former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and former MP Chief Minister Babu Lal Gaur, Pragya said: "During the Lok Sabha elections, a saint told me don't stop but increase your sadhana (spiritual practice), because it's a hard to time and the opposition is using 'deadly powers' against the BJP".

"The saint told me 'these deadly powers will surely affect those who are taking care of the party. They will be hurt. You are a target. Take care of yourself'," she said.

Pragya said, "I heard him and forgot it. Now I am seeing our top leaders -- first Sushma Swaraj then Babu Lal Gaur and now Jaitleyji -- dying. Is it because of that 'deadly power'? It is a question. But our leadership is dying prematurely."

Party leaders Kailash Vijayvargiya, leader of the opposition Gopal Bhargava and BJP state unit chief Rakesh Singh have disowned Pragya's observations. "Only Pragya will be able to explain this," said Vijayvargiya.

The other goal came from Imarti Devi, a minister considered close to senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, who expressed displeasure at the latter being given the responsibility of the party's screening committee for the forthcoming Maharashtra Assembly polls.

Imarti Devi said Scindia, instead, should have been given "responsibility" of Madhya Pradesh, going on to add that no one knew the latter in Maharashtra.

Imarti Devi who has often embarrassed the party by her lack of literacy apparently was ignorant about the nature of Scindia's task that doesn't take away from his importance in Madhya Pradesh.

And, to say that Scindia is little known in Maharashtra is a bigger howler.

"I cannot rejoice. I am not happy with this (new assignment to Scindia). What is this responsibility? If he had to be given the responsibility, it should have been that of Madhya Pradesh. Who knows him there (in Maharashtra)," Imarti Devi had said.