Condemning the attack on State Congress Vice-president Manak Agrawal on Tuesday, leader of the Opposition Ajay Singh and Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) President Kantilal Bhuria have demanded resignation from Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
Strongly condemning the attack, Ajay Singh Singh said, “I had received information that illegal mining on large scale was being done in the assembly area of the chief minister. These mining operations are bigger than the ones in Bellary and it also includes the three mines where mining is prohibited by the High Court. I dispatched Agrawal to take stock of the situation.”
“When Agrawal reached there he found that many vehicles were engaged in mining near Nasarullaganj Rehti. When he tried to intervene and stop he was attacked by nearly 45 persons armed with fire arms and swords. They also managed to let away more than 100 vehicles that were present there,” Singh said.
Singh said that he suspected that the vehicles belong to relatives of the chief minister. Criticizing the chief minister for allegedly giving protection to the mining mafia, Singh said that Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is complicit in the large scale mining underway along the banks of river Narmada in Jabalpur, Barwani, Dhar, Narsinghpur besides Budhni and at many other places from where the river passes.
“Even earlier I had travelled to Budhni on getting information about illegal mining. I had also disclosed the names of the people involved in illegal mining in the no-confidence motion that was brought against the government in November 2011. But the chief minister did not show any concern then,” Singh alleged.
“It is shameful that illegal mining is so rampant in the area of chief minister himself in violation of the orders of High Court and those who try to stop it are attacked fearlessly. The chief minister does not have moral right to remain in office for even a second now and he should immediately tender his resignation,” he said.
Bhuria also joined the chorus and said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government led by Shivraj Singh Chouhan is giving protection to criminals instead of common people and natural resources of the State.