The Congress on Wednesday sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention in the Vyapam scam case in Madhya Pradesh alleging Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s involvement in it. A delegation comprising senior Congress leaders Digvijay Singh, Kapil Sibal and Kamal Nath submitted a letter to the Prime Minister claiming to have forwarded him “solid evidence” against the Madhya Pradesh CM.
Irregularities in recruitment in the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examinations Board, also known as Vyapam, have been in the news for long and the Congress has been demanding the resignation of the Chief Minister. The party claimed that the Special Task Force of the state cannot investigate the matter impartially against Chouhan as long he remains the Chief Minister.
“Vyapam has now become ‘vyapak’ (comprehensive). We met the Prime Minister over the Vyapam issue, which is perhaps the biggest scam in India. This time we have furnished solid evidence before the Prime Minister. Before the lok Sabha polls, the Prime Minister used to claim that neither he will engage in corruption nor will allow anybody to do it... Now we expect the Prime Minister to take the matter into his own hands and ensure action to live by his words. We hope that the PM will stick to what he had said,” former Union Minister Kapil Sibal said outside Parliament.
Sibal said the delegation submitted a CD and excel-sheet document to the Prime Minister that mentions “CM” against the names of as many as 48 of the 131 illegal appointees. The Congress leaders claimed that this was the original excel-sheet from the computer hard disk of Nitin Mohindra, the main accused in the scam.
Digvijay Singh, a known detractor of Modi, said he met the Prime Minister for the first time. “His credibility will depend on what he does into this matter after saying so much about fighting corruption. If he does not take action, it means he is also part of the scam,” Singh said.