There was a competition among the Cabinet colleagues of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and other leaders to come out in favour of Chouhan who faced serious allegations from the Congress on Thursday.
Madhya Pradesh Congress chief spokesperson KK Mishra earlier on Thursday had alleged that Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's wife Sndhna Singh-owned company SS Minerals was allotted a manganese mine spread over 17. 9 acre land in Balaghat district's Paunia village in 2007, for 10 years, by violating the mine lease allotment rules.
Transport Minister Bhupendra Singh in Sagar told media persons that the allegations were baseless and the State Government is planning to go to the court in this regard.
Similarly, in Bhopal, Higher Education Minister Umashankar Gupta appeared before media persons and claimed that there was no truth in the allegations. He claimed that it was his responsibility to brief the media regarding
the allegations.
When asked whether there is any official reply of the Chief Minister or his wife over the allegations, Gupta said that he was enough to comment on
the matter.
later, in the evening, BJP's State spokesman Vishawas Sarang also came out with a statement on the similar lines.
Earlier in the morning, chief spokesman of the Congress KK Mishra alleged that illegal allotment of manganese mine is against moral principles as Chouhan misused his position to get the mine allotted to his wife. Besides, mine lease allotment rules were violated.
The then Balaghat Collector Gulashan Bamra, the then mining officer Prem Prakash Roy and the then Mining Department head SK Mishra played a role in the process," Mishra alleged.
Replying to a query over mine lease allotment rules, he parried the question saying that it would be evident if one read the rules. He said the land concerned has been kept reserved for the Manganese Ore India limited by
the Centre. Mishra demanded that Chouhan resign owning moral responsibility in the matter while a Central Bureau of Investigation probe should
be ordered. He said the documents pertaining to this allotment should be seized by investigating agencies in the State on Thursday itself so that no tampering is done.