46 deaths linked to him, CM Chouhan has to go: Congress

Congress said that Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan cannot escape responsibility for the “45 deaths” connected to Vyapam Scam.

The Congress Monday demanded the removal of MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, arguing that a fair and impartial probe into the Vyapam scam and the mysterious deaths of people connected with it would not be possible with him at the helm. The Congress said the Chief Minister cannot escape responsibility for the scam and “46 deaths” allegedly linked to it.

“The Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister is directly responsible for the country’s biggest scam in which one person is dying by the day. The buck stops at his doorstep. The CM cannot escape from the responsibility. If the serial deaths have to end, if the truth has to be unearthed and if the guilty are to be punished, then the CM has to be replaced and an impartial probe ordered,” Randeep Surjewala said.

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Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram insisted that Madhya Pradesh government recommend a CBI investigation before the “next unnatural death” occurs and stressed that the “buck stops with the Executive”. He said the scam has shown that court monitoring does not guarantee an independent investigation.

Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi, P C Chacko said the PM should explain and take moral responsibility for “what is happening in the country.”

The Congress, which has been attacking the BJP and the Modi government over the Lalit Modi affair, posed several questions to Chouhan including how such a “mammoth scam” went on openly and brazenly without his knowledge or complicity.

‘Cold-blooded murders’

* Both the CPM and TMC Monday demanded an SC-monitored SIT probe into the Vyapam scam related deaths. TMC chief Mamata Banerjee said her party would raise the issue in Parliament. “It is not merely a law and order issue. It is something bigger. These are cold-blooded murders,” she said.