Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s move to recommend CBI probe has caught the Opposition off guard. It now wants to shift the goalpost demanding an SIT under Supreme Court monitoring.
Within hours after Shivraj’s Press conference, AICC General Secretary Mohan Prakash convened a Press meet and declined to accept the gesture of the Chief Minister, stating that the letter of request for CBI probe is submitted to the DoPT.
When asked on the situation that the High Court is involved in the investigation process, why the letter needs to be dispatched to the DoPT, Prakash stated that no matter whether courts are involved, the process for initiating the CBI probe remains the same.
Prakash also went to the extent to state that the High Court, which had been monitoring the investigation, should have taken cognisance of the murders taking place in connection with the MPPEB scam. In his demands for CBI probe under the supervision of Supreme Court, he also demanded to probe the role of those agencies monitoring the investigation process till date.
Congress insiders told The Pioneer that the party needs to continue with the issue and thus the party would continue mounting pressure unless the CBI takes over the case. “Our next demand is resignation of Shivraj and then the next demand would be arrest of the CM in the case,” they added.
Political observers feel that the Congress has nothing to do with the justice to the people and on the contrary doing politics by continuing with the issue.
It was certainly a surprise for the Congress that the Chief Minister accepted the demand of CBI probe so early. It was only on Monday that in the presence of Shivraj, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had stated that the CBI probe would be conducted only if the High Court directs so.
There is a buzz in political circles that the Supreme Court was already scheduled to hear a plea on July 9 and could have declared CBI probe then. Sensing the situation, on the directives of Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Chouhan announced the CBI probe.