By IANS,
Bhopal: The winter session of Madhya Pradesh assembly beginning Monday is expected to be stormy with the Congress bringing in a no-confidence motion against the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government.
Though the Congress, with 66 members in the 230-member assembly against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s 146, has no chance of having the motion passed, it will try to pin down, during the debate, the government on several issues including the alleged mining scam.
“Congress party leaders know it well that they would not be able to pull down the government through no confidence motion but by it they can highlight the issues in which Chouhan government failed so far or performed badly,” political analyst N.D. Sharma told IANS.
“And seeing the condition of Congress in state, even if they would remain successful to highlight government’s failure it will be their gain,” he added.
The 12-day session will witness the first no-trust motion in the last nine years. The last was in April 2002, when Congress’ Digvijay Singh was the chief minister.
Meanwhile, Congress is focussing on a Rs.1 crore mining scam in Satna district in which forest department’s report itself mentioned that state PWD minister Nagendra Singh’s nephew Rupendra Singh alias Baba Raja was involved.
The issue gained momentum with eight people being arrested in the joint raid by police and forest department Saturday, but Baba Raja is still absconding.
While Nagendra Singh refused any involvement in legal or illegal mining in Satna, the Congress alleged that BJP had conducted the raid to play down the issue before the assembly session began.
Congress leaders Sunday burnt an effigy of Chouhan and Nagendra Singh and demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the scam.
“The arrests in illegal mining in Satna district is just an eyewash before the assembly session but government cannot save their face by such a way when several big names are involved in the scam,” Leader of Opposition Ajay Singh Rahul told IANS.