The Union Cabinet's move to end the use of red beacons is a bitter pill for most ministers in Madhya Pradesh.
Most of the ministers in Shivraj Singh Chouhan cabinet view red beacon as true recognition of their VIP culture and unwilling to part with it.
The matter was recently discussed in the State assembly and dismissed with contempt. Now that a diktat comes from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP led NDA regime at the Centre, Chouhan and his ministerial colleagues have no option but to welcome it and accept as 'fate accompli'.
last month, the issue of quitting VIP culture was raised n the State assembly after the newly appointed Punjab Chief Minister Amrinder Singh had declared that he and his cabinet colleagues would not use red beacon vehicles.
During Zero Hour, leader of Opposition in the State Assembly Ajay Singh had declared that he would not use No red beacon: Bitter pill for many MP Ministers
red beacon on his car, as it represents feudalism. "I am announcing that I am returning my red beacon today itself," Singh had said in the House on March 24.
On the contrary, the ministers in Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan cabinet did not like the idea and they opposed it. Ridiculing Ajay Singh's resolution, Panchayati Raj Minister Gopal Bhargava asked as why Singh didn't think of this when Congress was in power. Singh retorted that even when he was minister, he did not use red beacon.
While talking to 'The Pioneer' Ajay Singh said that then he had demanded that the Madhya Pradesh government should end the culture of red and yellow beacon cars. He got a red beacon a few days ago, and he has removed it from his car on the same day, after coming out of the State assembly.
General Administration Department (GAD) Minister lal Singh Arya said that at present he was in the constituency and using the red beacon, but he would remove it. "I am always with the decisions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan," he added.
Panchayati Raj Minister Bhargava, who had ridiculed Ajay Singh then, now told that the decision of Central government is laudable. "In the constituency I do not use red beacon, but outside I had been using it, but would stop from now on," he said, adding that the decision of blanket ban on red beacon should be implemented.