Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who is facing allegations from Opposition Congress over the examination and recruitment board (MPPEB) scam, got a strong backing from Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley who hailed him for his unblemished credibility.
"In Shivraj Singh Chouhan we have got a leader whose biggest quality is his credibility. If a leader has such a high credibility it usually perturbs the Opposition. As a result of which the Opposition Congress is levelling false and baseless allegations against Chouhan," Jaitley said at the inaugural session of the two-day executive meeting of the State BJP. He was apparently referring to Congress' allegations that Chouhan and his kin, including his wife, are involved in the multi-crore MPPEB scam.
While the Congress has been demanding a CBI probe, Chouhan has already denied the allegations. The Special Task Force (STF) is currently investigating the scam, which is monitored by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up by the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
In his address, Jaitley praised Chouhan for his leadership, saying Madhya Pradesh liberated itself from the tag of 'Bimaru' States and has registered an agricultural growth rate of over 20 per cent which is highly remarkable in the country. The Madhya Pradesh Government's model of empowering people socio-economically has helped in improving the overall situation of the State to a great extent, the Finance Minister said.
Jaitley said Madhya Pradesh became a revenue surplus State after 2003 when it dislodged the Congress from power. He also commended the development of roads and also the work done by the Government to improve water and power supplies. later, Jaitley described the land Acquisition Bill, 2013, brought forward by the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government as 'anti-farmer.' The previous Bill was a conspiracy against the peasants. The Bill contained no provisions with regard to land required for defence purposes.
He said that the proposed amendments cleared by the NDA Government was aimed at improving rural infrastructure, providing better housing for the poor and developing industrial corridor, which would provide jobs to the rural poor. Claiming that even certain Congress Chief Ministers had stressed during a meeting with Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on amending the legislation, Jaitley said that the Congress has made it a prestige issue for political reasons. He said that healthcare schemes would be provided to the poor people under Prime Minister Narendra Modis Jan Dhan initiative in future and added that they (poor people) would now have access to bank accounts under the Jan Dhan Yojana.